Narnia and Beyond
by Just Me and My Books
Summary: When Clare Miller goes to stay with her Aunt Polly during the war, what will happen to her? Peter Pevensie, O.C. Love story.
1. Chapter 1

Narnia and Beyond

Chapter 1

Clare Miller was an average 17-year-old girl. She was average height, average clothes, and average family. The one thing that was special about her, or so she thought, was her facial appearance. She had soft, bleach-blonde hair that went about halfway down her back, ice-blue eyes that were warm and full of laughter, a nice smile with soft, pink lips, and a nose that just made her look sweeter than she already was. Clare really loved to do two things. She loved to laugh, and she loved to sing. Her laugh just made you laugh every time you heard it. That's what her friends loved to do, make Clare laugh. It was so full of happiness, that it would cheer you up even if you've had the most horrible day. And when she sang, oh. She lived to sing, she sang almost every day. She has the most beautiful voice, everyone would try to walk by her or near her just to hear her sing. At annual holiday concerts, Clare would do solos, and nobody wanted her to stop. They would clap and cheer, even record her so they could hear her at home if they couldn't hear her in person. At least, until the war, that is.

World War II, 1939, England had just entered, and everybody was scared. The parents were shipping off their children, for their safety of course. They would send them off to a relative, or someone who could keep them safe. Clare's father and two brothers had enlisted, and she was scared for them. She didn't exactly know what they were going to do, or what they would have to do, but she did know that people die, a lot of people die. When that happened, she stopped singing. Her mother, Mary, was sending her off to her Aunt Polly's, to stay until the war ended. She lived in the country, not in a small house but not in a mansion either. Her house was big, I can't deny that. It had three stories to it, and it was wide. No wonder why she lived in the country, she needed a lot of room!

When she said her goodbyes and got on the train, she was watching her feet while she was walking, and so she didn't see a boy walking towards her. He didn't seem to notice her either, because he was busy trying to lead his siblings to a compartment further down the hallway.

"Woah! I am so sorry! I honestly didn't see you there! Let me help you! I'm really sorry!" Clare apologized profusely.

"Oh no, it's my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going." The boy said, bending down to pick up his luggage. "It's quite alright, Miss, don't worry." Clare bent down to help him, and when they stood up, she noticed that he had very deep blue eyes. The boy stuck out his hand.

"I'm Peter Pevensie. Pleased to meet you. I'm on here with my brother and two sisters. We're going to a house in the country with a professor, for a while 'til this war ends. How about you, Miss?" Clare seemed to like this boy. He had very good manners, and Clare appreciated that a lot. She stuck out her hand to shake his.

"I'm Clare Miller, I'm on here by myself, and I'm also going to a house in the country until the war ends, but not with a professor." Clare finished the sentence with a smile, which she often did.

Peter noticed that Clare said she was by herself, and asked, "Would you like to come sit with us? I'm sure there's plenty of room."

Clare wanted to, but she thought it was best not to intrude. Besides, when Clare sits with people for a long time, she gets sort of attached to them, like she can't let them go, because once Clare meets you, she never forgets you. That's another gift she has. Once she meets you, and you leave, she feels sad, and wonders what you are doing, if you remember her like she remembers you. It's kind of a nice gift, but sometimes it makes her a little melancholy.

"Thank you, it's very nice of you, but I can't. I have to go find my luggage and then my stop should be coming up shortly after. Thank you again, though." Clare smiled a soft smile, because she wanted to sit with him, but she didn't want to get any more attached to him than she already was.

"Well, alright then. Once again, I'm sorry, and it was a pleasure meeting you. Good luck, and I hope we meet again sometime, in a happier environment." Peter smiled and continued to walk down the hallway, to the compartment his siblings were in.

Clare watched him walk, and she thought to herself, "Me too, Peter. I hope to see you again too." And she walked off.

When she got to Aunt Polly's, Clare immediately told her about Peter, and how nice he was. "Do you fancy him?" Aunt Polly asked, interest on her face.

"Aunt Polly! I only met him this once!" Clare said, and she laughed at her aunt's comment.

"It only takes one time to fall in love, dear, if it's the right person!" Aunt Polly called from the kitchen. "Now, I bet you're hungry. Have some food and then off to bed."

After dinner, Clare went upstairs to wash up, and then got into bed. She had the strangest dream, of a forest, and woodland creatures, and a castle on the sea. All of the sudden, the face of a lion jumped into her head and roared, as if to tell her something. Clare woke with a start, covered in a light sweat. The strange thing was, she was the one walking in the forest, and seeing the woodland creatures, and finding the castle on the sea. When she got to the doors of the castle, she saw four people standing there. She couldn't tell if they were male or female, but two looked taller than the others. Probably the older ones taller than the younger. When they saw her, they waved, as if welcoming her inside. That's when she saw His face. Peter. She saw Peter's face on one of the people, and he had a crown on his head, as if he were a king or prince. That's when she saw the lion's face. In her dream, the lion spoke to her, and she could only understand it in her dream. He said to her, "Find this place, and you be filled with happiness again, as you once were before the war. You will find completeness here. Love, laughter, and happiness." And then he vanished.

Clare was confused. Even though she couldn't understand it if she tried to, she just knew what the lion said. Where was that place and why did she have to find it? Why wasn't she happy here? Clare knew that even though she thought she was happy, or she tried to look happy, she wasn't fully. Ever since the war, she was never completely happy. She wouldn't laugh as much, or sing as much, but when she met Peter that day, she was happy. She had felt happier than she had in weeks. Maybe that's what the lion meant. Find Peter, and she would be happy. But how?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When Clare woke up the next morning, she told Aunt Polly about her dream, or, she tried to as best she could. When she had finished, Polly had a strange look on her face.

"Narnia," she whispered, with a furrowed brow and looking down.

"What?" Asked Clare, for she didn't actually hear her aunt, but Clare knew she said something.

"Nothing. Never mind." Aunt Polly said, waving her hand.

Clare knew that her aunt had said something, and it must have been important because she looked so focused.

Clare was suddenly feeling tired, so she decided to take a quick nap.

As she was walking upstairs, she thought about the lion. What was he trying to show her?  
Just as Clare thought that, she suddenly felt dizzy, and then everything went black.

"Hello, Clare," said Peter, "it's good to see you again."

"Hello, Peter, you too." Clare smiled as she hugged Peter, because she had missed him so.

"What have you been up to? I mean, besides defeating the White Witch, and becoming High King of Narnia." Clare said, smiling.

"Um, well, not much besides that. Lucy has been very excited for this next month's upcoming ball, and she and Susan are planing it. Ed and I are just agreeing with whatever they say, but I think they get a bit annoyed at that." Peter smirked and winked as they walked inside.

"Well, I'd say this is a happier environment, don't you think, King Peter?" Clare asked him, to see if he remembered.

"Please Clare, it's just Peter." Peter said with a smile, "And what do you mean, 'a happier environment'?"

Clare realized he didn't remember that day on the train. "When we first met, on the train, you said you hoped to see me again, in a happier environment, and I would say this certainly is a happier place. Probably the happiest, right now at least."

Peter had on a look that showed he was thinking, and then a look of recognition. "Oh! I remember now! Well, we are, aren't we?" He said with a grin.

Clare liked it when Peter smiled. It was as if all of the bad things had gone from the world, and this place, Cair Paravel, was the only thing. Peter liked Clare's smile, too. It made him want to smile all day long, with nothing to fear. Just happiness.

"So, Clare," Peter asked, nervously, "you know how I said that there's a ball coming up? Well, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go with me? As my guest, of course." He added quickly. Peter really hoped she would accept.

Clare was calm on the outside, but on the inside, she was screaming, 'Yes!' "I would love to go with you, Peter. What day is it?"

Peter thought for a moment. "I think a month from now, but I'm not sure. You can check with Susan if you wish."

"Thank you Peter. Now, do you know of any place where I can stay? I've only just gotten here, so I don't know of any place." Clare said with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh, no problem Clare, you can just stay here with us. It wouldn't be any bother at all. Besides, I think Lucy would love you." Peter winked at her.

"That's very kind of you, Peter. I don't want to intrude, but this seems like the only option I have. Thank you so much." Clare was excited that she was staying in the same place as Peter, but also relieved that she wouldn't be there just her and him. She had a feeling that she was going to like it here, and Peter's brother and sisters.

At that moment, someone came running down the grand staircase towards them. It was a young girl, maybe around 12 or 13 years. Clare figured it was Peter's youngest sister, Lucy.

"Peter! Peter! You didn't tell me we had a guest! Oh, and it's a girl! Now we outnumber you and Edmund, Peter! Oh, Susan! Come say hi to our new guest!" Lucy yelled with excitement.

"Lucy, calm down. She just got here, you don't want to scare her off, do you?" Peter asked Lucy while she was still jumping with excitement.

"No, I guess not." Lucy stopped jumping. "But it is ever so exciting! What's her name?" She started jumping again as Susan came down the staircase.

"I think she can talk for herself, Lu." Peter said to his bouncing sister.

"Oh, right. Sorry. So, what is your name?" Lucy asked Clare politely.

"It's Clare." She said smiling to Lucy.

"Oh, I just love that name! It's so pretty! It suites you so well!" Lucy said, grinning back to Clare.

"Really Lucy, what's all your shouting for?" Susan asked, walking toward the three.

"Oh, Susan! We have a guest, don't you see?" Lucy asked Susan like she couldn't see Clare right in front of her.

"Of course I see her, but you didn't need to shout so all of Narnia could hear you! I was just upstairs." Susan said turning to Lucy and chuckling.

"It's just so exciting!" Lucy said once more, clapping her hands together.

"What's exciting?" Clare heard another boy ask; this had to be Edmund.

"Ed! We have a guest! Her name is Clare. Isn't she pretty?" Lucy turned to her brother as Clare blushed.

"Oh Lucy, hush up!" Susan said, sternly.

"It's alright Susan, she's just excited." Clare said to try to help Lucy a little. Lucy smiled.

"She's right though," Edmund said as he walked in the doors that led to the garden, "you are beautiful." He said to Clare, smiling.

"Thank you." Clare mumbled, looking at her feet which she found very interesting. What she didn't see was that Peter gave Ed a look that said, 'Don't try anything.'

"So Clare, do you want me to take you on a tour of Cair Paravel?" Lucy asked looking at Clare with sparkling blue eyes. Just like Peter's.

"That would be lovely, Lucy, thank you." Clare said, smiling down at her.

"Can I come too? I can probably do a more thorough job of explaining things than Lu can." Edmund said, smirking down at Lucy.

Lucy stuck her tongue out at Edmund, and Clare laughed. "Sure. Why not?" She looked at Lucy, who just shrugged her shoulders in reply.

"Great!" Said Edmund, clapping his hands together, "Let's go!"

Peter gave Ed a look and said through gritted teeth, "Ed, maybe you should stay here and go to the council with me. Yeah, you should do that instead."

Edmund smirked at Peter and had a mock-confused look and said, "Why Pete? I think he just doesn't was me to ask you to court me before he gets the chance to." Edmund turned to Clare and winked. Her eyes got wide and she blushed and looked down.

"Ed!" Peter yelled, his eyes wide and cheeks red also. Susan and Lucy were on the side laughing.

"Well!" Lucy said, she and Susan still laughing, "I think we should get started on that tour so Clare knows where to go! But, I think, it should be a 'just girls' tour, so you guys just go do guy stuff, and we'll be back in an hour and a half or so. Bye!" Lucy called back as she grabbed Susan and Clare's hands and ran up the stairs.

Once they had finished the tour, the three girls headed to Lucy's room.

"Edmund and Peter fancy you!" Lucy said with a grin as she looked at Clare. It was quite obvious that they did, with the conversation that went on in the Entrance Hall and the looks they were giving each other. Although, Ed seemed to like Clare well enough, but he also flirted with her to get a rise out of Peter. He liked teasing him, because Peter always acted older than he was, well, it was sort of a priority, him being High King and a big brother and all. But when he was himself, with his siblings, he could actually be quite fun.

"Yes, it seems they do." Said Susan. "I think Peter does more than Ed, but he fancies you too. He likes to get a rise out of Peter; they've always been competitive." Clare gave Susan an apprehensive look, and Susan corrected herself right away. "No, no, no! They aren't competing for you! It's just that Edmund will flirt (probably a great deal) with you to see what Peter's reaction is."

Clare raised her eyebrows at this. She didn't know what to think of this; if it was exciting, or aggravating.

"Well!" Said Lucy, pursing her lips. "The boys will be wondering where we are. I suggest we go down and have some dinner."

The girls agreed that was a good idea, so they opened the door, Lucy first, then Susan, and Clare last. As Clare left, she grabbed the door handle, and pulled the door shut with a thud.

And that's when she woke up.

* * *

**I've decided to make Lucy a tiny bit older, so that she's not as young and can help out more and stuff. Otherwise, everyone is their same age, except maybe Ed, I think I've made him a bit older too, like 15 or 16, but who cares? I do! It helps the story line. :)**

**-B**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Clare was fully awake, she tried to understand what just happened. Was it just a dream, or was it...the future? She didn't want whatever it was to end because she felt happy there. Happier than she had felt in a long time. A very long time.  
Clare went downstairs and told Aunt Polly about the 'vision' that she had.

"Clare," she said, and sighed. "I have something to tell you."

She told Clare all about her adventures in Narnia, and Aslan, and the White Witch, and Professor Diggory Kirke. When she was finished, Clare was awestruck. She couldn't believe that her Aunt Polly and her friend helped the great lion Aslan defeat the White Witch.

"So, what do you think my 'visions' mean?" Clare asked, as she was still curious as to what they meant.

"I'm not sure," Aunt Polly replied, bustling around in the kitchen, "It could be anything. Aslan works in mysterious ways, dear."

"I think I figured that out, Aunt Polly." Clare mumbled to herself.

"What was that, dear?"

"Nothing!"

As Clare was walking to the market, she saw an alleyway that she had never seen before. She stopped to look at it, and when she did she noticed a door at the end. It was a long alleyway, but Clare wanted to get a look at that door.

As she got closer, Clare noticed that the door was glowing. She had no idea what that could be, or what could be behind there.

"I don't think I should be over here." She thought to herself. She was starting to turn around when she heard a voice coming from the door.

"Clare," it said, in a deep, almost growling voice, "Clare, come closer, dear girl. Do not be afraid."  
Clare didn't know why, but she started to turn back around to face the door and walk towards it.

"That's it, come in, Clare. Nothing bad is here, I will protect you, and so will Peter."

"Peter." Clare whispered, as she reached for the door knob. She turned it and pulled. At that moment, there was a blinding light, and then a forest.

"Where am I?" Clare asked in awe, as she looked around. It was a nice green forest, filled with lots of trees. The trees. They almost seemed to...dance.

"You're in Narnia, dear one. I am Aslan, the creator. This is a place that is filled with joy, happiness, and love. Here, you will find Peter, for he is High King here. His brother and sisters are also kings and queens, for they live at the castle Cair Paravel.

"Aslan, was this the place in my dreams, the one with all five of us, at Cair Paravel?" Clare asked, still amazed at such a place.

"Yes, dear one, this is the exact place that I have showed you in your dreams. This is the place in which you will live, at least, for now. Now, come, for I have many things to tell you about." Aslan said, motioning for Clare to follow him.

"Excuse me, Aslan, but where are we going?" She asked, walking to him and looking ahead.

"To Cair Paravel of course. We have to find Peter, don't we?" Aslan said with a knowing look.

"Oh, I suppose you're right." She smiled to him.

"Here is where I leave you," said Aslan, "for you have to find Peter yourself, and you will tell him how you got here. But don not tell him about your dream. He does not need to know that yet. It will all work out the way I planned it. Good luck, dear one."

"Aslan, you mean it won't happen the way it did in my dream?" Clare asked him with a puzzled look.

"Things never happen the same way twice, dear one." He said with one last small smile.

And then he was gone.

"Thank you Aslan." Clare said, as she headed off towards the castle. As she got closer, she could see a man standing in front of the doors, talking to a small group of other...creatures? They weren't human, well, some of them were half, but others were animals, animals that could...talk. Talking animals. This was by far the most interesting day of Clare's life.

When she was almost right behind the man, she could see that he was very young, maybe 17 or 18. He had a crown on a head of blonde hair, and was tall.

She decided it was best as to not interrupt the meeting, so she sat on a rock by the castle and waited. It wasn't long after she sat down that the group disassembled, so she hopped up and ran to the doors before the man went inside. As she got closer, she slowed to a walk.

"Hello! Um, I'm not exactly sure where I am, could you help me? I'm supposed to be looking for a man by the name of Peter Pevensie." Clare called to the King, or so that's what she figured out he was.

The man stopped and turned around. "I'm Peter," he said to her. He thought she looked familiar.

"And you ar-" A look of recognition dawned on him. "Clare?! Clare Miller from the train? How did you get here?!" Peter asked with some excitement.

"Peter! Yes, it's me Clare! I didn't recognize you! I thought you would look different! I don't exactly know how I got here, but I went through a door and then I met Aslan and he brought me here."

"You met Aslan? Well, you're very lucky; we didn't get to meet him until we found him!" Peter laughed. "Please, come inside. I'll introduce you to my brother and sisters."

When they got in, Clare could hear footsteps coming down the staircase. It was Lucy.

"Peter, have you seen my-" Lucy noticed Clare standing there and squealed with delight. "Oh, Peter! You didn't tell me we had a guest! It's a girl, too! Oh, now we outnumber you and Edmund 3 to 2 Peter! Where's Susan? Susan! Come meet our guest!" Lucy shouted up the stairs.

"Just like in my dream," Clare thought as she smiled.

"Lucy! What's all your shouting for? Is something the matter?" Susan called back to Lucy from the hallway.

"No, nothing's the matter, sister, just come and meet our guest Peter has brought!"  
Susan came down the stairs, much more calmly than Lucy, I might add, and smiled when she saw Clare.

"Welcome to our home. You're a friend of my brother? What's your name?" Susan asked, very warmly.

"My name's Clare, and I met Peter on the train in London." Clare said smiling back to Susan. "I hope I'm not intruding-"

"Oh no, you aren't intruding on anything! And I love your name! Its suits you well! It's very pretty!" Lucy giggled with excitement.

"Lucy! Don't interrupt." Susan said sternly.

"Sorry." Lucy said, looking down.

"That's alright, Queen Lucy. I sometimes forget and interrupt people too when it's something exciting." Clare grinned to Lucy. She grinned back.

"Thank you, Clare, but it's just Lucy. No need to be formal with me!" Lucy was never one for titles, but she used hers when it was important.

"Nor I." Said Susan smiling at them both.

"Nor any of us." Said Peter, smiling to Clare, "Now! Where's Ed? He was supposed to be back in 10 minutes ago. Ah! There he is now. Ed! Edmund! Come say hello to our guest." Peter waved Edmund over to them.

"Hello! And what's your name, love?" Edmund asked Clare with a wink. She looked very embarrassed, and Peter shot Ed a glare.

"Oh, my name's Clare, Clare Miller. Pleasure to meet you, your majesty." Clare blushed at the name that he gave her.

"Clare, you don't have to call me anything. It's just Edmund. Or Ed. Either one." Edmund told her, smiling.

"Alright." Clare said, still blushing.

"Well, Clare, would you like to take a tour of the castle? I can take you, to show you where everything is, so you don't get lost. It would be ever so much fun!" Lucy said with enthusiasm.

"How about I come as well? I may do a better job of navigating than Lu." Ed said, chuckling as Lucy stuck her tongue out at him.

"What do you think, Lucy? I don't mind. The choice is yours." Clare told the younger girl.

"Ed, I think you should stay here and help me go over papers for the council." Said Peter through gritted teeth and motioning towards the council room doors.

"Why Pete?" Asked Ed with mock-confusion. "I just think he doesn't want me to be with you so I have a chance to ask you to court me before he does." He said to Clare behind his hand, but loud enough so everyone could hear.

"Ed!" Peter looked at him shocked and with red cheeks. Clare's eyes got wide and she blushed and looked down. Lucy and Susan were to the side, giggling.

"Well!" Said Lucy, who was still laughing, "I think we should get started on the tour before dinner. I think it should be an 'all girls' tour, so you boys stay here and work on what you wish. Come along, Susan!" She said as she grabbed Clare and Susan's hands and led them up the stairs.

When they were finished with the tour, they headed to Susan's room. They sat down on the bed, and after Lucy closed the door, she jumped on the bed and said to Clare, "Peter and Edmund fancy you! You can just tell they both do, the way they're competing with each other!" After she caught Clare's look, Lucy corrected herself. "No, no, no! That isn't what I meant-"

"I think what Lucy's trying to say," cut in Susan, " is that our brothers are...very...competitive when it comes to things. Edmund and Peter both fancy you, it's just Edmund will go to a length to get a rise out of Peter."

Clare wondered just how far Ed will go, and if it might cause some problems.

"Alright," Said Susan, "the boys are probably wondering where we are. I suggest we head down to the Dining Hall and eat. What do you think?"

"I think that is an excellent idea, Susan. Let's go." Clare said as they got off the bed.

Clare followed Lucy and Susan out the door, and shut the door with a thud. This time, she didn't wake up. Instead, she followed Susan and Lucy down to the Dining Hall and found Peter and Edmund already there. They were standing behind their chairs, most likely waiting for the girls.

When Lucy and Susan went behind their chairs, Clare just stood there.

"Pick a seat, Clare, anywhere you'd like is fine." Susan said, gesturing to the chairs.

"Thank you." She smiled and walked over to a seat between Edmund and Lucy. Everyone was still standing, and Clare was wondering what they were doing.

"Clare, since you are our guest, you may choose what we dine on tonight. You may have anything you wish." Susan explained.

"I'm not really sure, so you can decide on what you would like." Clare told them. She didn't have a clue what they had here, or usually had, and she didn't want to pick something that they disliked.

"Well, alright then. Lucy, it's your turn to decide." Peter turned to the youngest.

"I think, we should have the normal dinner." She smiled and looked at the others for approval.

"Excellent choice, Lu." Edmund rolled his eyes.

"Ed," Susan raised her eyebrows.

"Sorry," Ed mumbled. Clare smiled and was wondering why they were still standing.

"Oh! Goodness, I forgot we were still standing! Everyone may be seated." Peter said to everyone.

Edmund walked behind Clare's chair and pulled it out for her."Thank you, Ed." She smiled to him. After she sat down, he pushed her in and sat down himself. Peter gave him a glare and Ed smirked back. Susan, Lucy, and Clare looked at each other knowingly as Edmund turned to Clare.

"So, Clare, regale us with the story of how you ended up in Narnia." He said, curious himself.  
Clare told about her aunt, the door, and Aslan, and by the time she was done, the table was in awe.

"Amazing," said Lucy.

"I thought so." Clare said while looking at Peter. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. Susan and Lucy noticed this, and smiled to each other. Edmund also noticed this, and he cleared his throat. Very loudly.

"Are you alright, Ed?" Clare asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, Clare." He said smiling to her. She smiled back and then looked down at her food that had just arrived.  
"Oh yes, he's fine Clare, he just didn't like you and Peter smiling at each other." Lucy said, giggling.

Both Peter and Clare blushed very deeply, and Ed just glared at Lucy, which just made her giggle harder. Susan grinned at all of them.

"Oh, shut up Lu." Ed and Peter said simultaneously. Well, that started a whole new fit of laughter. Lucy, Susan, and this time, Clare, who was no longer blushing, almost fell off their chairs laughing. A few seconds later, Peter and Edmund joined in. Pretty soon, everybody was clutching their stomachs laughing.

After they settled down, everyone started to eat.

"Clare, our monthly ball is coming up soon, for next month, and Lucy and I need help planning it. Would you like to help? It's not that hard of a job, just making sure everything is in order." Susan asked Clare.

"Oh yes, I would love to help. It sounds very exciting." She responded enthusiastically.

"Great! Thank you so much! We can get started after dinner." Susan smiled to Clare and finished eating.

"So, Clare, do you have any place to stay? If not, you're certainly welcome to stay here." Peter said, looking at Clare.

"I don't, actually, thank you so much Peter. You've all done so much for me already. How will I ever repay you?" She smiled at Peter.

"You don't have to." The four said simultaneously. They all looked around at each other, and Clare smiled.

After dinner, everyone exited the Dining Hall and into the gardens for their evening walk. Edmund, Lucy, and Susan were discussing what the color theme should be for the ball. Peter and Clare were walking behind, just talking.

"So, Clare, the ball is coming up, and since you just arrived, I was wondering if you would like to go with me? As my guest of course." Peter added quickly; she shouldn't know, yet, that he was falling for her that fast.

"I would be honored to go with you, Peter, thank you." Clare smiled at him, and they continued their walk until they walked all the way around the garden, and then headed inside.

When they had gotten into the Entrance Hall, Clare, Susan, and Lucy went off into the Ballroom to start planning, while Ed and Peter, well, I don't really know what they got up to.

"While we were walking, Lucy, Edmund, and I were discussing the color theme. Ed wasn't much help, as he's not a man of decor." Susan smirked at them.

"I think it should be pink!" Lucy said simply.

"You think everything should be pink, Lu." Susan turned to Clare. "I think Clare should have some say in this, as it is now her ball, too."

Clare was about to refuse when Lucy spoke up. "Come on, Clare, Susan's right, it partially is your ball now, too, with you helping plan and living here now." Lucy shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, what were the colors for the previous balls?" Clare asked Susan as she pulled out her planning details. "I wouldn't want to pick the same color." She flipped back and started at the very first one.

"Let's see, the very first one was gold, because that was after our coronation, so we can't have that. Then there was red, silver, green, that was Ed's birthday, and pink." Susan looked at the list and then back up at Clare.

"How about purple?" Clare asked, since that was a sensible color that hadn't been chosen yet.

"I like that color, don't you, Susan?" Lucy asked her sister.

"I think that would be a lovely color. Now, we just need the food and the flowers. Everything else is already done." Susan replied, rolling up her papers. As they looked out the windows into the gardens, they saw Ed and Peter riding out into the field and practicing with their swords. It seemed that Ed was going to win, but Peter finished with a move that disarmed Ed. By this time, the girls had moved out onto the balcony, and were watching them.

Peter, who was facing them, noticed and shouted up to them. "Why, hello, girls! Have you finished planning?"

"Not quite!" Susan yelled back, "we just need to figure out the flowers and what the food should be and then we should be just about done!"

"Well, alright then, but if you need any help, we would be happy to!" Ed called up to the girls, as he was now facing them, also.

"Thank you boys!" Clare shouted down and smiled, and they smiled back.

"Did you see us practice? Do you think we did well?" Peter asked Clare.

"Oh yes, I thought you were wonderful!" She replied, grinning down at him.

"Eh," said Lucy, shrugging her shoulders.

Ed made a face at Lucy and she giggled. Clare smiled at all of them, and Susan suggested that they head inside.

"We'll be along in a minute, girls. We will meet you in the Entrance Hall." Peter called to them before they turned around and headed back to the stables.

By the time the girls got inside, through the Ballroom, and into the Entrance Hall, the boys had just walked in.

"Well, that was an exciting day. I say we head to bed and meet each other in the Dining Hall for breakfast in the morning." Peter said, looking at them all.

"I agree with you, Peter, I'm so very tired. Let's walk up together, shall we?" Lucy asked, looking at Susan and Clare.

As they started walking up, Peter grabbed Clare's hand.

"Sorry," he added, blushing and looking down, "but I needed to talk to you without the others knowing."

Clare looked back up and saw Edmund look down, and Clare gestured for him to keep going. He nodded and continued his walk up the stairs.

"It really is good to see you, Clare. I didn't know if or when I'd ever see you again." Peter looked into her eyes.

"It's good to see you too, Peter. I was looking forward to seeing you again ever since that day on the train." Clare looked back at him and smiled.

"So, what color did you girls decide on for the ball? Or can't I ask that?" Peter smiled at her as she thought.

"Well, I'm not sure if Susan wanted to tell anybody, but if you can keep a secret, I'll tell you." Clare said after a minute.

"That's good, because then I'll be able to have an outfit ready in time. Susan's always been horrible at those time things." Peter said dramatically, "She thinks everybody will be ready on the day something happens, and so it's always a rush for our tailors to have something ready in time."

"The color theme is purple, so you can find something for that. But don't tell anybody I told you that, or Susan won't trust me for anything."

"Don't worry, I won't, you can trust me. You have my word as a King." Peter raised up his hand.  
Clare laughed, and they headed up the stairs. Peter walked her to her room, and then went to his own.

The next morning, everyone gathered in the Dining Hall. Lucy asked Clare where she was last night, as she didn't walk up with them.

"Oh, I was alright, I was just talking to Peter." Clare explained.

Susan and Lucy turned towards Peter. "What?" He said, "I have a right to talk to her."

"What did you talk about?" Lucy asked.

"Lucy, don't be so nosy." Susan told her, sternly.

"Oh, it's alright, it was just about the ball." Clare told her.

"I hope you didn't tell him what color we picked." Susan raised her eyebrows at Clare, and she shook her head.

"Good," Susan smiled, "because I was going to tell them now." Peter and Clare looked at each other.

She stood up and opened her arms. "This balls color is purple!" She said with excitement.

"Very original, Su," Ed rolled his eyes.

She looked right at him, leaned forward, and with narrowed eyes, said, "Clare picked it out, Ed, so if you have a problem with it, you don't have to come."

Ed looked scared; he took back what he said right away and Clare laughed.

"That's what I thought," said Susan as she sat down.

After breakfast, the five headed to the Ballroom to start putting out décor. Just as they had started, a centaur came galloping in and said that he needed to speak to High King Peter urgently. They went off somewhere, and the girls and Ed continued their work.

"I wonder where Peter went off to..." said Lucy as she put a tablecloth on a table.

"Probably to take care of a matter for the council," Susan responded.

Clare was puzzled by the sudden interruption, as this had never occurred before. Nonetheless, they finished setting up, and then went up to the dressing rooms to survey the outfits for the ball.

Ed had picked out a stunning, deep-purple cape to go with a silver-looking tunic. It was absolutely beautiful. Susan had a lovely, light purple dress, Lucy had a purple dress with lace, and Clare, well, Clare's was the most beautiful of all, I think. It was a combination of the darkest blue and purple, and it shimmered in the light. I wouldn't be surprised if all of the men attending this ball would want to dance with her. She was a sight to see. The dress, oh, it had the most beautiful designs on the side. It had white lace on the bodice in patterns that looked like snowflakes. The bottom-half of the dress fanned out and had a ruffled look. A diamond necklace and tiara went along with it, which only made the outfit more beautiful (if that's even possible) than it already was.

After going through the wardrobe for the ball, the four decided to head downstairs and take a stroll through the garden. As they were walking, Peter rode up on his horse with his armor on and his sword in his sheath.

"Where are you off to, Peter?" Lucy asked with curiosity on her young face.

"I'm sorry, but I have to take a journey to the North. I hear there are some trolls up there that need to be taken care of. I know it's short notice, but I really have to go. It's my duty as a king." He said with a straight face.

"When will you be back? In time for the ball, I hope?" Susan asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know, dear sister, but I shan't be gone too long." He said as he turned his horse around. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must be off. Goodbye, sisters, Ed, and Clare." Peter waved as he rode off, soldiers following behind.  
"Ah, oh well," Susan sighed, "At least he won't have to leave during the ball. I was so looking forward to him being there, though. I do hope he will be back in time, because it is a month from now."

"I'm sure he will, Susan. I don't think he'd be very happy if he came home after the ball and you were after him." Clare smiled. On the inside, she was melancholy because she was supposed to go with Peter.

"Yeah, I'd rather take the trolls any day than face an angry Susan." Ed put in.

Susan turned to him and pursed her lips, and then went on to finishing setting up.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When the night of the ball rolled around, Cair Paravel was in a frenzy trying to make last-minute additions to things around the castle. Susan, Lucy, Edmund, and Clare were in their rooms getting ready, and then the girls were going to meet in Clare's room to observe their outfits.

Clare sighed. She was sad that Peter wasn't going to be there. He had asked her to go with him, which she thought was very sweet.

Just as she finished putting on her tiara, she heard a knock at her door. In came Susan and Lucy, and they both squealed with excitement when they saw Clare in her dress.

"Is it too much?" She asked with an anxious look as she looked herself over in the mirror.

"Too much?! It's perfect! Just Beautiful!" Lucy squeaked.

"Lucy! Hush up! The whole castle will hear you." Susan said to the latter.

"Sorry," She mumbled.

"Clare, are you okay?" Susan asked, walking over to Clare and putting a hand on her back.

"Yes, thank you Susan." Clare sighed again, "I'm just a little disappointed that Peter isn't here. He asked me to the ball, you know. "

"What's all this racket?" Edmund asked as he opened the door.

"Ed! You know better than to open the door! What if we were undressed?" Susan looked aghast.

"Well, you're not, are you?" He smirked. He caught sight of Clare and he gaped at her beauty.

"Clare, you look...beautiful! You will have to let me dance with you, so all of the men can see. Oh, and then I can tell Peter! He will be sorry that he missed getting to dance with you! You will save me a dance, won't you?" Edmund smiled hopefully.

"Thank you, Ed, and of course I will! I wouldn't want to make you feel left out now, would I?" Clare returned the smile.

"No, you wouldn't!" Ed picked her up and spun her around so that her dress twirled magnificently through the air.

"Ed, put me down, or I _won't_ let you dance with me!" Clare laughed as he put her down.

"Well, we had better go down so we can be there when our guests arrive!" Susan said as she herded everyone out the door and down to the Entrance Hall.

As the last of the guests arrived, everyone headed into the Ballroom to start. The ball started off with the king and queens dancing with someone of their choice; Lucy with Mr. Tumnus, Susan with a lad from Archenland, and of course, Edmund and Clare.

The men of the ball watched with pure enchantment on their faces as they watched Clare. She was stunning, and the dates of the men were worried that they wouldn't want to dance with anyone but her. As Ed spun her around, her dress twirled magnificently so that she looked like she was sparkling in the light. The audience clapped and cheered when the song came to an end and Ed put her down. There was a line of men waiting to dance with Clare for the next songs. In fact, there were so many, that she couldn't even dance a full dance with one of them. She would get about half-way through a song, and then she would have to dance with another man. Even Mr. Tumnus danced with her.

As the night went on, people were dancing and being merry. Clare was once again dancing with Edmund and laughing as he danced her around the floor when the great doors to the Ballroom flew open, and in came the person Clare hadn't seen for over a month.

Peter.

It got quiet as Peter walked down the steps to the dance floor, and everyone watched as he headed for his siblings and Clare. He had scratches on his face, and it was very dirty. Edmund still had his arms around Clare since they were dancing, and Clare was still holding his hand. Peter noticed this, and smiled softly to her as Lucy came over and hugged him. Susan followed her, and Clare broke away from Ed and walked over to him, Edmund behind her. Peter let go of Lucy and Susan and hugged Clare ever so tightly, and it was a long hug. He kissed the top of her head.

"You look beautiful," he whispered into her hair.

"Thank you. It seems like you've been gone forever. I missed you." She said back to him.

Peter smiled. "I missed you too."

"You asked me to go to the ball with you." Clare said as he looked at her.

"I know, I'm sorry. It was short notice, but it was very important." He told her, as she traced a scratch on his cheek.

"I see."

"Well, now that we're here, would you care to dance, my lady?" Peter bowed and she smiled.

"I would love to, good sir," she said as they held onto each other and started dancing. The music started back up, and pretty soon everyone was dancing again.

Edmund found another partner, as Peter had taken his, and was now dancing and smiling with what looked like a nymph. Peter and Clare were talking, and Susan was on the side, talking to the lad from Archenland. Lucy was by the table with the drinks talking to Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers.

As the end of the party drew near, the guests cleared out couples at a time. After everyone else had gone, Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and Clare were the only ones left in the hall. Peter and Clare were still dancing, but to a dance they were making up as they went along, and after a few minutes, Susan and Lucy started dancing as well. Edmund just looked on with a very amused look as his sisters mocked Peter and Clare's dance. Pretty soon the five of them were laughing very hard as four of them tried to continue dancing without falling over from dizziness.

At last, when they were all very tired, they decided it was best to get some sleep. Lucy and Edmund went up first, and then Susan, Peter, and Clare followed behind. They were having a good time talking up the stairs, and then Susan went into Lucy's room to say goodnight, which left Peter and Clare alone in the hallway.

"Thank you for dancing with me tonight, Peter." Clare looked at his eyes.

"You're welcome. I'm sorry again if I made you upset, Clare. If I had a choice, believe me, I would have stayed. If I was a bad king, I would've stayed, but since I want to be the best king I can be, I need to go to these types of things." Peter looked back down at her.

"It's alright, I had a good time anyway. And you showed up at the end, so I got to dance with you for a few songs." Clare smiled.

"Well, I'm tired. I will see you in the morning. Goodnight, Clare, and sweet dreams."

"Goodnight, Peter, and you also." Clare stood on her toes and reached up to his check and have him a light kiss, then retreated to her room.

Peter touched the spot where she had kissed him with his fingertips, and smiled. He had feelings for Clare, he just didn't know how much, yet.

**

The next morning, Clare looked out her door and saw that no one else was up yet. She went back in her room, and went out to the balcony, and looked out onto the sea. She saw gulls flying over the deep blue and green water, looking for fish for breakfast. She was still tired from dancing, so she decided to lay down on the couch for awhile. She had forgot to grab a blanket, so she was just laying in her nightclothes.

Peter woke up, still tired, but he wanted to see if anyone else was up, too, so he went into the hallway and saw Clare's door open. When he got closer, he noticed that she was asleep on the balcony. He got a blanket from her wardrobe, and put it on her. She seemed to warm up just as he had put it on. Peter smiled at Clare's sleeping figure, and he sat across from her in the chair, waiting for her to wake.

Clare woke to the sound of talking. She recognized the voices, so she stood up, wanting to find them. As she stood, a blanket fell from her lap. "I wonder how this got here," Clare thought to herself, "maybe someone came in and put it on me." She headed out into the hall where she heard the voices.

She recognized one of the voices as Peter's, and the other was a woman's. It seemed Peter was getting annoyed with her, as his voice had annoyance in it.

"Come on, Peter, I've known you longer. I could make you happy, happier than _she_ ever could." The woman told Peter.

"Look, Mary, you are a _very_ nice lady and all, but Clare is special. She's different, she's wonderful. I think I would be just as happy with her, thank you very much. I think I just might ask her to court me." Peter said with a far-off look in his eyes.

"Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me," said Mary, as she flounced down the stairs and out of the castle.

Peter turned and noticed Clare standing by her door and blushed, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, hello Clare. Out of curiosity, how much of that did you hear?" He asked.

"That woman, Mary, I think it was, was saying something about happiness." Clare recalled.

Peter closed his eyes and sighed. "Sorry, she can be kind of annoying, I think she just wants to marry either Edmund or I to be queen." Peter said looking at the wall.

"That's fine," Clare said, "did you mean it though? What you said, about me?" She looked at him with a hopeful look.

"Yes, I did," said Peter, "I think you're special, and I like that. You have a gift of making the grumpiest person of a group smile, and everyone loves it when you laugh."

"Well, thank you," Clare said; now it was her turn to blush.

"Do you want to go down for some breakfast? I'm sure you're hungry, you slept a very long time." Peter stuck his arm out for her and Clare took it.

**

When they at last were in the Dining Hall, Susan and Edmund were seated and eating; Susan, a fresh fruit salad, some toast, and a glass of orange juice, and Edmund was eating some eggs, orange juice, and hash browns. He was eating the eggs rather fast, and Peter noticed this.

"Ed! Where are your manners?" Peter exclaimed.

"Gone forever." Ed mumbled into his juice as he gulped it down and headed out the doors and to the stables.

Clare smiled and so did Susan, even though she tried to hide it.

"I'm going to go check on him, he seemed on edge." Peter told the girls.

"Alright," said Susan. She motioned for Clare to join her, and she did. They talked about the ball, and Peter showing up and dancing with Clare.

"You were the only one he danced with that night," Susan told her as Clare looked out the window.

"I know, I thought it was really kind, I didn't want to keep him all to myself though, he could've danced with the others."

"He didn't want to though, because you're special to him, Clare." Susan told her, putting a hand on hers. Clare smiled.

"Susan, there's something I want to tell you," Clare said, and she told Susan about Mary and Peter's conversation.

"Clare, there's no doubt my brother fancies you, it will just take him time to realize that he should ask you to court him before someone else does." Susan told her with an understanding look.

"Well, what if he doesn't, and somebody else asks me?" Clare's eyes widened at that thought.

"Then he will be greatly jealous, but it would serve him right." Susan smirked, "how about let's make him jealous? Get Edmund to court you, and then Peter will see how much he wants you! Brilliant plan, Susan!" She complimented herself.

Clare laughed at her, but didn't know if this was such a good idea because both Edmund and Peter fancied her, and she didn't want to hurt Ed by pretending to court him.

"I don't know, Susan, I don't want to hurt Ed, or Peter, for that matter," Clare told her.

"Don't worry, we'll tell Ed what we're doing, and he'll understand."'Clare grabbed her hand and whisked her away to her room.

Lucy, by this time, was awake, and she saw Clare and Susan go into the latter's room, so she went in after them.

"What are you up to?"

"Shut the door, and I'll tell you." Said Susan.

**

"Ed!" Cried Susan, "Ed, we need to talk to you!"

"Heavens, Susan, whatever is the matter?" Ed came out from behind his horse carrying a saddle. Peter, by this time, had gone back inside the castle and was in the library.

"Nothing's the matter, brother, I just need to explain something important to you." She told Ed about their plan, and at first he was weary, because he too liked Clare, but realized that Peter and Clare liked each other much more, and he wanted his brother to be happy. They all knew Peter and Clare would fall in love with each other, it would just take some time.

He put the saddle down and gave his full attention to them. "Alright," he said after a few moments of silence. "What do you want me to do?"

"Oh, Ed, haven't you been listening?" Lucy sighed. "We want you to court Clare, only it will only be pretend. We want to try and make Peter jealous!"

"Oh, alright. What do I have to do? We have to make it look believable, but I don't want either of us to feel uncomfortable." Ed told the girls, and the last part to Clare.

"Yes, because then we would feel strange around each other..." Clare trailed off. "Oh my, here comes Peter! Best not let him find out our plan! Maybe we should go inside, girls." She said to Susan and Lucy.

As they walked by Peter, he stopped them, and asked them if they would like to have a ride on the beach later, all five of them. They accepted, and they thought this would be a great time for Edmund and Clare to show off to Peter. Clare still fully didn't like this idea, because she didn't want to hurt Peter or Edmund, but she trusted Susan.

"Alright, Peter," Lucy said. "We'll meet you and Ed back here in about...half past."

"See you then, ladies." And he walked off to the forest. Don't ask me why or what, but he had something to do deep in the forest.

"I wonder where Peter's going." Said Susan. "Oh well, let's go inside the castle, shall we?"

"Yes, we shall. I am getting to be very hungry, why don't we go to the Dinning Hall?" Lucy asked.

"Alright then," said Clare, let's go."

**  
After they had finished eating, the girls headed back out to the stables to get their horses ready. There was no sign of Edmund or Peter, but their horses weren't in the stalls, so the girls figured they had gone off riding while they were waiting.

"We will just meet them down on the beach I suppose." Susan said as she put her foot in the stirrup and climbed onto her horse.

As they rode down, they could see Edmund and Peter on their horses facing the sea, waiting for them. They seemed to be talking, and occasionally they would laugh. As the girls approached, Edmund heard them, turned his horse, and smiled at them. Not long after, Peter did as well.

They started off on their ride, Peter and Lucy first, then Susan, and last but not least, Clare and Ed.

"So, when do we start 'courting'?" Ed asked her with a smile on his face.

Clare blushed deeply and looked down. "I really don't know, why don't we ask Susan, since this is her plan?" They rode up to Susan, one on each side, leaned in so only they could hear, and asked her when they should start.

"Well, you can start anytime you want, but right now would be a great time since Peter is around."

"Okay," Clare looked across Susan to Edmund. "Ed, let's start, shall we?"

"Yes, we shall," Ed said as he rode around to Clare's side and started to whisper things about the plan into her ear. And of course, Peter chose this moment to turn around.

"Ed-" he started, but stopped once he saw Clare and Ed. He saw Ed say something to her, she laughed, and he kissed her on the cheek. Peter turned back around with a heartbreaking look on his face, and it went pale, as if all of the happiness had gone from the world.

Susan, Lucy, and Clare noticed this, and Clare felt very ashamed of herself. How could she hurt Peter like this? It would have been fine without Susan's plan, it just would've taken longer for them to realize their true feelings, but this plan, this horrible plan, might make him distant from Clare.

"You got that, Clare?" Ed asked her as he pulled away from her. "You didn't seem like you were paying much attention."

"Hmm? Oh, no, I'm sorry Ed, I wasn't. I think Peter wanted to ask you something, by the way." Clare told him. He rode up to Peter, but he didn't look at Edmund.

"Where you making to ask me something, brother?" Ed asked him, but Peter's face was still white and he wouldn't look at him.

"No, I wasn't." Peter said, stiffly. "I was simply going to say how lovely the sea is today."

"Yes, it certainly is." Ed said, looking out at the sea, the beautiful blue waves rolling in, the smell of salt water, and the shriek of the gulls. The only thing that dampened the sight was the dark grey sky.

"I'm quite worried about the sky, there may be a storm." Ed said as he turned back to Peter. "We may need to head back."

"No," said Peter. "Let's stay out just a little while longer."

"Alright, but I'm blaming you if the girls get cranky." Ed smirked and rode to catch up to Lucy, who was now well ahead of them.

"Peter! Peter, can I talk to you?" Clare asked as she came up behind Ed to Peter's side.

"Wouldn't you rather talk to Ed?" Peter asked coldly.

"No, I want to talk to you. It's very interesting to hear about your life." She said in a soft tone.

"Well, I'm sure _Ed's_ is just as interesting." Peter said with a much harsher tone than Clare ever thought he had. "Go talk to him, Clare, because frankly, I don't want to talk to you."

Clare looked at him with a hurt expression on her face. She slowed down a little as to let Susan catch up to her.

"Su, I'm going to head back to the castle." Clare told her, looking at the horn on her saddle. "I'm tired, I think I shall get some rest." She turned her horse around and galloped back to the castle at an even pace.

"Clare! Clare, wait!" Susan called after her, as she too turned back.

Clare put her horse away, and ran into the castle, only slowing down a little on the stairs. She was hurt, all because of this plan that Susan said would work. Well, she didn't want to have any part of this plan anymore, because she and Peter would both get hurt in the process.

She ran into her room and slammed the door behind her, threw herself on the bed and sobbed. Susan came into her room and sat down on the bed beside her. She put a comforting arm around Clare, and held her while she cried.

"S-Susan, I'm s-s-sorry, but I just c-can't do this. I'm not s-s-strong enough for this. Peter hates me, and that's just bec-cause Ed was talking to me about the p-p-plan. If that's how Peter acts when it's just whispering, how will he act if Ed k-kisses me?"

"It's alright, Clare, I understand. I didn't know Peter was this jealous. We can stop; I'll tell Lucy and Ed the plan's off. There there, it's okay, it's alright." Susan tried to reassure her that it would be fine, but Clare didn't listen.

"Peter doesn't know that this is fake! He thinks it's real! He really hates me and Ed now. I've ruined your family!" Clare sobbed even harder.

"Clare, listen to me. I will tell Edmund and Lucy that we are no longer doing the plan, and I will explain to Peter. Is that ok?" Susan asked her.

Clare nodded her head, but kept on sobbing.

"Clare, I'm sorry you're so upset, it's my fault, really. If I hadn't thought we should do this plan, Peter wouldn't be mad at you." Now it was Susan's turn to tear up.

"No, no, it's not your fault, Susan." Clare said, wiping her eyes. "It's my fault that I went along with it. I feel like I owe it to Peter to explain it to him. Can I go along with you?"

"Of course." Susan smiled. "Should we go now, or wait until after dinner?"

"Why don't we wait until after dinner, maybe by then people will have calmed down." Clare told her.

"Alright. Let's get ready for dinner, shall we? I have the most beautiful dress you could borrow, if you wish." Susan motioned for Clare to follow her into her room.

When dinner rolled around and everyone had come back, the four who had kept on riding were sitting around the table waiting for Susan and Clare.

"Where are they?" Asked Peter, very impatiently, very different from his normal attitude. "How long does it take to get ready for dinner?"

"I don't know, Peter, Clare seemed pretty upset because you yelled at her so." Lucy told her brother.

"Yes, why did you treat Clare that way, brother? Whatever could she have done to make you bark at her so?" Ed asked with curiosity on his face.

"Oh, don't ask _me_, Ed, I think you know why." Peter glared at him. "You knew I was going to ask her to court me, and yet you asked her instead. Why do you do this to me?" He know spoke directly to Edmund.

"I don't know what-" Ed started.

"DON'T YOU _DARE_ TELL ME YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT WHEN YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL!" Peter screamed at him, standing up, making Lucy jump.

"Peter! Peter, please-"

"Not now, Lucy!" He snapped at her.

"Yes, _right now_, Peter Pevensie!" Lucy was now standing also. She can be a little spitfire when she's angry.

Peter looked at her with a glare so deep, if looks could kill, Lucy would be ashes.

"You listen to me, right now! I don't know _why_ you're so angry, because no one did anything to you. Let me explain something to you, Peter. Susan had this plan to make you jealous so you'd ask Clare to court you before someone else did, and she had Ed and Clare pretend, yes, _pretend_ to court each other so that you could see how much you truly like her. So, really, they did you a favor."

"Maybe they did, but it could have been done in other ways!" Peter retorted.

"Maybe, but this seemed like the only thing that would work! If you need to be mad at someone, be mad at me or Susan, because we put her up to it, but _please_ don't be mad at Clare, I don't think she can take it." Lucy had calmed down a little now, remembering her friend that she had seen go back to the castle in tears at the way Peter treated her.

"Alright, but I may or may not talk to her." Peter said, sitting back down.

"Peter," Lucy said in a warning voice which sounded very much like her sister's. And trust me, you don't want her using that tone with you, for she can scare the daylights out of anyone when she's mad.

"Fine." He said, looking down at his hands.

"Good." Lucy said as she sat back down.

Just then, Clare and Susan came downstairs, and out of the five, Lucy was the only one that smiled.

"We were waiting for you, we didn't want to start without you." She said as they sat down.

"Well, _I_ wanted to start ages ago, but Lucy made us wait." Peter said in a cold manner.

Clare blushed as Susan spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but I just _had _to let Clare borrow my paisley dress, because I thought she would look wonderful in it, and I was right!" She smiled.

"Couldn't that have waited until after dinner?" Peter commented sharply.

"**Enough**!" Susan snapped at him. "I have had enough of you being all mad at everything, so just stop! It's getting _really_ annoying!"

Peter stood up, and without a word, left the Dining Hall, as Clare started sobbing again.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It took a long time for Susan and Lucy to calm Clare down, because she kept blaming herself for Peter's attitude, and the girls kept telling her it wasn't her fault. Edmund had gone to try and find Peter, which was a difficult task since there were so many places he could be. There were a number of secret rooms in Cair Paravel, and some that nobody but Aslan knew about. Eventually, he found him in the deepest, darkest corner of the library, the section filled with information of the days when the White Witch reigned. He had his face in his palms, and was breathing very shakily.

"Peter? Are you quite alright?" Ed asked cautiously.

"I'm fine, it's Clare you should be worried about. I treated her so badly, I wonder if she'll ever forgive me." He sighed into his hands.

"Well, it's better to ask for forgiveness sooner rather than later, so if you want her to forgive you, you'd better ask her soon." Ed pulled up a chair and sat next to his brother.

"I know, I just don't know whether she's going to hate me the rest of her life because of how I acted; she seemed pretty upset." Peter looked out the window.

"You bet she was! She was just a river of tears when I left to come and find you, saying something about how it was, 'her fault', and 'I've ruined the family' and some other things like that." Ed said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Not helping, Ed." Peter sighed again. "Oh well, best to get it done and over with. Come on, Ed, let's go back. I need to apologize to Clare."

As Peter walked toward the Dining Hall doors, he could see a heap on the floor and two others standing over it. He figured the lump on the floor was Clare, sobbing, and the two standing over her were his sisters. Just as he walked through the doors, Clare looked up and saw him walking towards her with a softened expression on his face. She jumped up and ran to him, embracing him in a warm hug filled with tears that dampened his shirt.

"I'm so sorry, Peter, I never meant to hurt you!" Clare said into his shirt, so it came out muffled, but somehow, Peter understood it.

"No Clare, _I'm _sorry. I should've never treated you the way I did, no matter what you did. I'm ever so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" He asked her, soothingly.

"Can you forgive _me_?" Clare looked up at him with watery eyes, but the tears only made them more beautiful.

"How about we both forgive each other, then we'll be square, and we can forget that this ever even happened, how does that sound?" He smiled to her.

"I think that sounds like a _wonderful_ idea, Peter." Ed said, drunkenly, for he had had unknowingly drank some of the cleaner that had alcohol in it. It didn't hurt him, it just made him very, very drunk. "What do you think, George?" He asked one of the wall curtains.

"Ed, what have you consumed?" Lucy giggled, for she had realized that her brother was drunk, she just didn't know on what.

"Oh, Bitsie, I didn't see you there! Look at this lovely drink that the chefs have left us. It's absolutely divine." Ed told Lucy as he crashed into the table."Whoops! Sorry, Mr. Beaver, it's my fault, I'll just have to watch where I'm going next time!" He patted the brown oak table lightly.

"Ed, I think what you drank is marble polisher." Clare told him, examining the bottle he had drank out of.

"Nonsense, Mavis, I know perfectly well that what I drank is a glass of the _finest_ drinks in all of Narnia!" He said, slurring a few times, but everyone figured that was what he said.

"And what would that drink be called, my dear brother?" Susan asked him, eyebrows raised to see what he would say.

"The King's _finest_ marble polisher!" He yelled to the curtain he had earlier called, 'George'.

Clare burst into laughter at the state Edmund was in, for if he could have been watching himself, he would have died of embarrassment.

"What's so funny, Mavis? Has George made a funny comment without me hearing it? What was this said comment, George?" Ed asked the curtain as he waited for an answer.

"Oh, not going to tell me, eh? Just going to have it be an inside joke with you and Mavis? Well, that's ok, because _we_ have a little inside joke too, don't we Bitsie?" He asked Lucy, who was now clutching her sides at the sight of her brother.

"Ed, can we do for a walk please?" Clare asked Ed, who was, apparently, still waiting for an answer from 'George'. "I want to show you something that I found that you might be interested in."

"Oh, alright. I'll be back though, George, and you and me are going to have a talk when I get back, George." Ed eyed the curtain suspiciously, as if it might go somewhere while he's gone.

"Come along, Ed, let's go." Clare led him out of the Dining Hall with her arms around his shoulders.

"You're a friendly one, aren't you Mavis?" Ed asked her arms.

"Well, you know me, Ed, I can get pretty friendly." Clare answered him, mostly out of sympathy as she led him up the Grand Staircase.

"Say, where are we going, Bitsie? I need to get back and have a chat with George." Ed asked her as he looked around the castle like he'd never seen it before.

"First of all, I thought I was Mavis, and second of all, we're just taking a trip to the physician's room." Clare lead him down more hallways. She had remembered where it was from the tour on her first day.

"The physician's room?! Why? Are you ill, Mavis?" Ed asked, with a curious look on his face.

"Why, yes, I am," said Clare, playing along. "and I need you to help me get there! Because only you know where it is!"

"Okay!" Ed looked much happier now, but almost collapsed in Clare's arms.

"Whoa, take it easy there, Ed, remember, I need you to help me find the physician's room!" Clare said as she turned down one more hallway. "Aha!" She said as she opened the door and found exactly what she was looking for. Lucy's fire flower juice. She had told Clare about it when she and Susan were giving her the tour and said it was for emergencies. Clare figured this was an emergency.

"Alright now, Ed- Ed? Oh, now where did you go?" Clare looked around the room, but found no Edmund.

"WHOO-HOO!" Clare heard from out in the main hallway, where she had come with Ed to get to this room.

"Oh no."

Oh yes. Just as she feared, she ran out to see Edmund sliding down the banister on his stomach, but luckily, feet first.

"At least he's not going head first to slide off of it and crack his head open!" Thought Clare as she hurried to the stairs to try and retrieve Ed.

"Ed, what in Aslan's name are you doing?!" Clare asked him as he hiked up the stairs to go again.

"Isn't it obvious, Mavis? I'm sliding!" he said matter-of-factly.

Just then she saw Peter, Susan, and Lucy come out of the Dining Hall. When Lucy saw her older brother, she sank down to the floor and laughed as hard as she could. She was gasping and wheezing for air as tears of mirth streamed down her face.

"Oh Ed, if you could see yourself." Peter rubbed his hands down the sides of his face and closed his eyes.

"Edmund! Come down here right now!" Susan called up to him from the bottom of the stairs.

"It's no use, Susan, he doesn't listen!" Clare called back down to her from the top of the banister.

Lucy, who was recovered from her laughing fit by now, had an idea. "Hey Ed, didn't you say you had to have a chat with George about something? Why don't you come and do that right now?" She said to him as he slid down and this time didn't go back up.

"Ok," he said, with a little bit of confusion on his face. "But it's not my fault if he comes running out here crying." He added as he walked into the Dining Hall and closed the doors.

"That was something." Peter rubbed the back of his neck.

"It certainly was, that must be some pretty strong stuff." Susan said as she turned to Clare, "Clare, why did you take Ed upstairs?"

"Oh, I was taking him to the physician's room to see if there was anything to make him sober." She told them.

"Did you find anything?" Lucy asked her with curiousness on her face.

"I think I did," Clare told them, "Hold on a minute." She said as she raced back up the stairs and to the physician's room. She opened the door and looked around for the bottle of fire-flower juice, found it, and raced back down the stairs. She slowed down once she got to the Dining Hall doors. She knocked a few times, and then entered. She saw Ed standing in front of 'George' with his hands on his hips.

"Now, listen here, George, I won't take that kind of attitude. Now, either you stop bullying the other kids, or I'm going to have to teach you a lesson."

"Ed?" Clare asked as she approached him.

"Ah, Mavis! How nice of you to join us! George and I were just having a heart-to-heart conversation about his habits of bullying the other tapestry." He told her while he kept his gaze at George.

"Ed, I was wondering if you're thirsty," She told him while handing a glass to him, "I got you a glass of water.

"Why, thank you, Mavis, you're too kind," He said. He drank the water in one swallow, and collapsed on the floor. He coughed a little, then shook his head, stood up, and looked around. "How did I get here, and why does my head hurt so much?" He asked as he rubbed his head.

"You accidently drank the marble polisher, which had a strong dose of alcohol in it, so that explains why you're head hurts; you have a hang-over. And you were in here talking to one of the curtains that you called 'George'; that answer's why you are in here." Clare explained to him.

"Wow, I must have been pretty drunk then, wasn't I?" He asked her.

"Well, by the way you were sliding down the banister, I'd say you were." She smirked at him.

"Oh no, did everyone see? Peter won't let that go for months." He covered up his face.

"It's alright, Ed, we actually quite enjoyed it; it's good to have some excitement once in a while." She told him, sympathetically. "Now, come on, let's go see the others." And she led him out of the Hall.

"Hello, Ed, feeling better, are we?" Peter asked him with a small grin on his face.

"Shut it." Ed looked down at his feet.

Later that evening, after things had calmed down, the four Pevensies and the Miller girl could be found sitting in the library; not hidden in the corner, but sitting by the fireplace in the front of the room. They were spread out on the couches and chairs: Lucy in a big, cushy armchair, Susan and Edmund on one of the long couches; Edmund was sitting at the end, while Susan's whole body was on the couch, and used Ed's legs as a footrest. Peter and Clare were on the other of the long couches, in the same position as Susan and Edmund. They all had had a busy day; first, with Peter and Clare's friendship on the line, then, Edmund being intoxicated, and ending with reading some interesting books about Narnia's history, because Clare only knew so much.

Some of them were dozing off, while others could be found thinking of future days. The fire roared and soothed them, giving off a tremendous amount of heat, which kept them warm in the cold night.

As the clock struck eleven, they decided it was best that they head up to their rooms, as so they don't fall asleep in the library. The five climbed up the stairs, and right then a centaur came thundering in with a scroll in his hand.

"Not again," Lucy mumbled.

"High King Peter!" The centaur announced as Peter went back down the stairs.

"What is the matter, Oreius?" Peter asked him as the latter handed him the scroll. He read it with mixed expressions on his face. First, it was straight, then his eyes widened, and he had pure horror on his face.

"What is it, Peter?" Susan asked with a concerned look.

Peter lowered the scroll slowly, his face pale with fear, and said, ever so quietly,

"The White Witch is back."

* * *

**Dun Dun Daaaa! I'm sorry this was so short, I just couldn't think of anything else to put in ****_this _****chapter, but don't worry, I have excellent plans for coming chapters! Please leave a comment, they help so much!**

**-B**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"What do you mean, 'she's back'? She can't be back, Aslan destroyed her!" Edmund said, his face just as pale as Peter's.

"I'm afraid she is, because one of her followers did dome sort of ritual that brought her back, and now she's regained all of her power." Peter would not look them in the eye.

Clare never saw the White Witch in person, but knew what she was capable of and just how deceitful she can be. She saw Lucy get tears in her eyes at her brother's announcement.

"Well, this changes things." Susan said, not looking at anyone, either.

Clare suddenly felt weak in the knees, and collapsed. She started to roll down the stairs when Edmund saw her and caught her. He picked her up and turned to the rest of them.

"Clare's gone and fainted; I'll take her up to her room, and then I'll come back, and we can discuss this. In private." He told them. He carried Clare all the way up to her room. He was surprised at how light she was. She was very slender, but was fit, too. She couldn't weigh much more than about Lucy, he figured, and that was pretty slim. He set her down on her bed gently, as so not to hurt her, and found a few blankets and covered her with them. Ed watched her for a few seconds, admiring her beauty even when she wasn't conscious. After that, he went back out, shut the door, and walked back downstairs. He was very nervous about this deal with the White Witch; after all, she had tricked him into betraying his family when he first came to Narnia.

When he got downstairs, his siblings were already in the Council Hall, waiting for him, and debating whether or not Lucy should be there. She argued that she was old enough to stay for these kinds of things, Peter agreed, but he really didn't want her here for _this _conversation; he thought that Lucy shouldn't be troubled with this kind of thing. Lucy argued that she fought in the first war, but Peter said that she really didn't fight, and she countered that she helped by going with Aslan to the Witch's castle and getting the soldiers and creatures back to life; and after the war, she went around with her bottle of fire-flower juice and healed the wounded.

Eventually, Peter didn't want to argue with his sister anymore, so she stayed. As soon as Ed sat down, the four of them started to discuss the situation at hand. Narnia had just had a war with her not too long ago, and they didn't know if the soldiers would be willing to fight her a second time. Peter said that he would announce it to Narnia the day after next, so that would give them time to do a little more planning on their part. He would tell everyone that he would have a sign-up sheet in the Council Hall for anyone that wanted to join their army again. Then, in a few days, they would travel to Calormen and ask the king for assistance in the war.

Everyone seemed to agree to this idea, and partially because they were exhausted, and adjourned this meeting. Then, they all headed up the stairs to their rooms.

The next morning, Susan and Lucy went in to check on Clare, to see if she was still unconscious, and found her bed empty. The girls panicked, and ran downstairs to see if she was there. No Clare. The girls didn't want to worry Peter and Edmund, so they went outside, saddled up their horses, and rode off in search of Clare. Lucy suggested that they go down to the beach and look, and rode off in that direction. Susan followed, and soon saw a figure on the sand. As they rode closer, they saw it was none other than Mr. Tumnus looking around frantically.

"My dear Mr. Tumnus, what seems to be the matter?" Lucy asked her friend with a concerned look.

"Your Majesties, Queens Susan and Lucy, the most terrible thing has happened!" He exclaimed, still looking around as if waiting for someone to show up.

"What is it?" The queens asked, wondering what on earth could it possibly be.

"Lady Clare has left!" He cried, "She asked me to stay here and if you came looking for her, to tell you that she's alright, and she'll be back in a few hours, but I can't help but worry about her!"

"Thank you, Mr. Tumnus, for delivering that message, and I'm glad that she didn't actually _run away_ like we thought. I wonder where she could have gotten off to?" Susan said.

"Probably just to get something from the market or someplace else, no big need to worry, but if she's not back by mid-day, we'll send some guards after her, how does that sound, Susan?" Lucy asked her sister.

"Oh, alright. But don't tell Ed or Peter, no reason to have them worried over something that's probably nothing." She told the younger.

"Okay, now can we go back to the castle and have some breakfast? We haven't had any since we came out looking for Clare." Lucy said as her stomach gave a grumble.

When they had finished eating, Peter and Edmund had just come downstairs to breakfast.

"Good morning, my sisters, where is Clare?" Peter looked around the hall.

"Good morning to you as well, brothers." Susan returned the greeting. "Clare went out for some fresh air this morning; no need to worry, I expect she'll be back any moment now."

And Susan was right. Just as she finished talking to Peter, Clare came in the doors to the castle with a dull look on her face.

"Clare! There you are! Where have you been?" Lucy asked her.

Clare looked to where the voice came from, and smiled softly at the sight of her friends.

"Oh, nowhere special, just out for a ride, that's all." She told them.

"I'm glad you're back, because there's something I've been meaning to tell you all." Peter said as he gestured for Clare to come in the Dining Hall. "Since the White Witch is back, and we will all be fighting in the war, or most of us," He looked at Lucy who now looked disappointed, "we will need to make sure out fighting skills are still in shape."

"I'll be using my bow and arrows, so I will go and start polishing up when we're done here." Susan said.

"And I will be fighting with my sword, and so will you Peter, so we can go after breakfast, also." Edmund said to his brother.

"That leaves Lu and Clare," He said. "Now, Lucy, you are still very young, and I don't know if I want you fighting in this. Maybe you can do what you did last time; use your fire-flower juice to heal the wounded soldiers." Peter told his youngest sister. She seemed to be a little more happy, now. "Clare, have you had any practice with any kind of weapon before?"

"No, I haven't." Clare admitted.

"That's quite alright, we have plenty of time to train you." Peter told her. "Now, what do you think you'd be good at?"

Clare thought about it for a moment. "Well, I have strong arms, I might try my hand at sword fighting."

"Alright, Ed and I will take you out to the arena after we've had some breakfast. What say you, Ed?" Peter turned to him.

Ed, being Ed, was already gulping down a plate of eggs, fruit, toast, and a glass of orange juice.

"Ed! What have I told you about manners?!" Peter scolded his brother.

Ed mumbled an apology, and continued eating.

Peter and Clare also started to eat, and afterwards, the five of them went out to the training ground to start.

Susan and Lucy went off to the targets, Edmund went off to practice by himself with a dummy, (he figured Peter would want to train Clare, so he wouldn't be able to fight him anyway), and Peter and Clare went down to the arena.

"Okay, Clare, pick a sword." Peter told her while opening up a chest full of them.

"Oh, goodness, I don't know which one to pick." She looked them all over, and finally decided on a simple one.

"Okay, the first thing about a sword, is you've got to know how to handle it." Peter told her as she held her sword with both hands.

"Clare," He said to her as she dropped her sword. "Let me show you."

He picked up her sword, handed it to her, and demonstrated with his how to hold it. Clare tried to copy him, but it kept wobbling.

"Here, try it like this." He went over to her and held her hand as he moved it to the position it should be in. He liked the feel of her hand in his, and took her other one and put it by her side.

"There, is that better?"

"Yes," said Clare. her sword didn't wobble anymore. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He said as he picked up his sword from where he had put it on the ground.

"Now, stand with your legs apart just a little bit, and keep them lined up with your shoulders, so your weight balances evenly between them." He then placed his feet evenly apart. Clare did the same.

"Good! Now we can go to actual swinging and blocking."

Clare swung her sword a little, and cut her leg.

"Careful! Don't want you bloodying up the arena!" He smirked at her. Clare made a face at him.

"I'm fine, keep going." She told him.

He told her all of the things he knew about sword fighting, and then they practiced, slowly at first, but then, as Clare got better and better, they almost had an actual match going.

"Come on, Peter! Don't go easy on me because I'm a _girl_!" She yelled to him as he chased her around, trying to catch up to her.

"Don't worry, I won't! But when I beat you, you have to do one thing that I ask you to!" He called to her.

"Okay, but when _I_ beat you, you have to do one thing that I ask you to!" She called back and smiled. She turned around and caught Peter off guard. He quickly regained his stance, and their swords clashed. They fought each other with all of their strength, and for a minute it looked like Peter was going to beat Clare, but then she pulled one of the moves he taught her, and she disarmed him. His sword went flying through the air, and landed behind Clare. She had the tip of her sword at his neck, and Peter had his hands in the air.

"Okay, okay, you win. Can you take the sharp, pointy object away from my neck now?" He asked her. She lowered her sword and he went to retrieve his.

"Okay, so what is it I have to do?" Peter asked Clare. She thought about it for a minute, and then said, "You have to refer to me as, 'The Warrior Princess' for the rest of the day."

"Alright. That's pathetic though, I would have chosen something better." Peter said.

"Too bad you didn't win then, huh?" She smirked.

"Hm." Peter mumbled as they headed back to the castle.

"How was practice?" Susan asked when they all were back inside.

Clare looked over at Peter and smirked again. "I beat Peter at sword fighting." She told them.

"That's because I went easy on you because you were just starting." Peter defended himself.

"Sure, whatever you say, Peter." Clare told him, and Peter started muttering under his breath while the girls laughed.

"When are we going to Calormen, Peter?" Edmund asked.

"I should say tomorrow, so you better pack. I expect we will be there for a little more than a week."

"Alright, I'm going to start packing, just so I'm sure I'll have everything." Lucy said as she got up to leave.

"I think I will, too. Anyone else?" Clare asked as she too got up.

"As a matter of fact, I think everyone should start packing, so we know how many bags we're brining." Susan said to them.

They all walked up the stairs to their rooms, shut the doors, and began packing.

* * *

**Hope you liked it! Big thanks to Alicedor, because the part where Peter teaches Clare to sword fight was her idea!**

**Updates to come!**

**-B**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When at last they got to Calormen, the Pevensies and Clare got off of their horses, and looked out at what was a beautiful city. The people there were so interesting, and the buildings were magnificent. The King of Calormen had invited them to stay as his guests at his castle during their visit, and they excepted. He was an old king, maybe sixty or so. He had a kind face, with wrinkles of laughter under his eyes and on his cheeks. All around he seemed warm and inviting.

"Welcome to my country," said the king. "I do hope you enjoy your stay here, and come back to visit me." He smiled warmly. Clare thought that she would like him.

"I never did know what your name was, your majesty." Clare said to him. "Might you tell me it?"

"My name is King Gregory, my dear, and that's what you shall call me, no 'your majesty' or any nonsense like that." He smiled at her and led her inside. "And what is your name, my dear?" He asked her kindly.

"My name is Clare, Clare Miller, guest of High King Peter." She told him. He smiled at her again. Clare liked it when people smiled, for if no one smiled, Clare was not happy.

"Why don't you meet my sons?" The king suggested.

He led her to the courtyard where three men stood waiting; Clare figured that these were the sons.

"Lady Clare, these are my three sons: my youngest son, Prince Brandon, my middle son, Prince Alexander, and my eldest son, Prince Matthew. My sons, this is Lady Clare, guest of High King Peter the Magnificent. They are to be treated like they are far above us in rank." King Gregory told his sons.

"Pleasure to meet you, your ladyship." Prince Brandon said as he kissed her hand.

"And you as well, Prince Brandon," she curtsied to him. "But there is no need for me to have a title, so you may just call me Clare, or Lady Clare, all of you, if you insist." She told them. Next, was Prince Alexander.

"Good day to you, Lady Clare," He said as he kissed her hand and she smiled.

"And to you, Prince Alexander." Clare curtsied to him as well. Last, was Prince Matthew.

"You look ravishing, I must say, Lady Clare." He said as he bowed and kissed her hand as he looked up at her eyes. He had her hand for a little longer than necessary, and more than Clare noticed this. Peter, Edmund, and Prince Alexander also noticed.

"Well! Shall we head inside?" The king asked the group. "Best to show you where your rooms are!" He led them inside.

"Might I be allowed to walk with you, Lady Clare?" Prince Matthew asked her. "I would so love to hear about Narnia."

"I'm sure he knows plenty about Narnia." Thought Peter as he watched this go down. He had noticed the prince's actions toward Clare, the way he held her hand, and the way he wanted to walk beside her.

"Peter, I noticed it too, and if he wants to try something, we'll be there." Ed told his brother, for Peter loved Clare, and Edmund wanted to protect that love.

When at last they got to the floor with their rooms on it, they decided it would be best to divide into groups as to get done faster and head down to dinner.

The king suggested that the three of his sons take them to their rooms, but the guests' room had to be in the same wing as theirs. Since there were only the three sons and King Gregory, one of the five guests would have to go with another pair.

These were the pairs that where determined: Edmund and Prince Brandon, Susan and Prince Alexander, Clare with Prince Matthew, Lucy with King Gregory, and Peter with Clare and Matthew, as his room was in the same wing as theirs.

Prince Matthew didn't seem too happy about Peter coming along with him and Clare, but he had to let him come along, otherwise the others would get suspicious.

He led Lady Clare and High King Peter to their rooms, which were in the same hallway as his. Clare's room was magnificent, it was probably one of the largest rooms in the castle. It had a very large bed, which was soft and squishy, a balcony that had a marvelous view of the city and the sea, and it also had beautiful long, white curtains that flew in the breeze. The furniture in Clare's room, she figured it must be passed down from king to king it was so old. She loved all of it.

After Prince Matthew had shown Peter his room, the three started heading down to the Dining Hall for dinner. While they were walking, Clare noticed that Prince Matthew was walking very close to her, and that he made no room for Peter, so he was behind them.

"Peter, you should come up and walk beside me," Clare told him.

"I don't believe there's any room." Peter replied through gritted teeth and Clare shot him a pleading look.

"Why don't you come back here and walk with me, Clare." Peter tried to help her, because she seemed uneasy being so close to Prince Matthew.

"Well, we're almost to the Dining Hall, so there's really no point, is there?" Prince Matthew glared behind him at Peter.

"I guess not." Peter glared back at him.

In the Dining Hall, there was a very long table, with chairs all down the sides. At the head of the table sat King Gregory, and on his right side, sat his wife, Queen Eliza. She had been out in the city greeting people, that's why they only saw her just now. On the king's left sat Prince Matthew, and next to him sat Clare. Peter sat opposite Clare, beside Queen Eliza, and on his other side sat Prince Brandon. At last when everyone was seated, the table looked like this: King Gregory at the head, Prince Matthew on his left, Clare beside him, on Clare's right was Prince Alexander, then Susan on her right. On Queen Eliza's side it was: Peter, then Prince Brandon, Edmund, and Lucy. As Clare had sat down, Prince Matthew had pulled her chair out for her. Peter, Edmund, Prince Alexander, and Lucy had noticed this, and did not like it at all.

As they were eating, Prince Matthew tried to engage Clare in conversation with him at dinner, so that he might be the only one to talk with her. Clare, however, tried to get anybody but him to talk to her, so that she wouldn't be doomed to talk to Prince Matthew for the whole of dinner. She chatted with Prince Alexander, who understood her and tried to keep his brother from talking to Clare, and she was very grateful to him. The younger prince wanted to be friends with Clare, and he decided helping her was a good way to start.

"So, Clare, I hear that you are not from Narnia. Where have you come from?" Alexander asked her.

"I come from a world outside of this one, in a place called earth, on Earth I live in a country called England." She answered him, politely.

"And do you find this 'England' similar to Narnia?"

"Actually, a little bit. England doesn't have nearly as much land as this country, or as beautiful seas or forests or cities, and it doesn't have any talking animals or woodland creatures."

Peter, who had been listening to their conversation, joined in. "My brother and sisters and I are also from England, we came to Narnia because our sister Lucy had found it."

"How did she come to find it?" Alexander asked, pure curiosity on his face.

Peter and Clare explained their stories to him, and he was just fascinated. It seems the whole table was listening, as Edmund, Susan, and Lucy added things if needed.

"Well, that's _quite_ an adventure, I must say!" The king said, after they were done.

"Yes, it was." The Pevensies agreed.

"King Gregory, if we might discuss the reason for our visit after dinner?" Peter asked the king.

"Ah, yes. I completely forgot. After we finish, gentlemen, if you would follow me into the Council Hall." He told the men of the table.

And he was obeyed. Right after the men were finished eating, they rose up from their chairs.

"Ladies, we thank you for the pleasure of your company, now, if you'll excuse us, we have some business to attend to." King Gregory told them.

Matthew turned to Clare and kissed her hand again. "Clare, thank you for your attendance tonight, it was certainly appreciated." He told her. He gave her one last smile, and left. Peter and Edmund shot him death glares.

Prince Alexander turned to Clare once his brother had left, and bent down to her height, as she was still sitting, and said, quietly, so only she could hear, "I apologize for my brother, Lady Clare, and I assure you, if he bothers you, I will put a stop to it. If you ever happen to be alone with him, all you need to do is call for me, and I will come to you." He smiled softly to her.

"Thank you, Prince Alexander, you're too kind." Clare gave him a small hug, which he returned.

"Please, Lady Clare, it's just Alexander, I don't like to use my formal title." He told her, and then he left.

Peter, Edmund, and Prince Brandon followed, and then it was just the women left in the Dining Hall.

"Well, shall we retire to the lounge, ladies?" Queen Eliza asked them.

"That sounds like a lovely idea, your majesty." Lucy said to her.

"I go by Eliza to my friends, so please, call me that. No need for formality." She smiled at the young queen.

After about two hours, the men came in to the lounge where the women sat waiting. Clare and Lucy were playing an intense game of chess, and it seemed Lucy was winning; Susan and Eliza were chatting about similarities and differences of their two kingdoms.

"We have come to a conclusion; Calormen will help Narnia in their upcoming war against the White Witch. Two days before the war starts, Narnia is to send word to us, and I will ride there with two legions of soldiers." The king told them.

The room was silent, until Lucy broke it.

"That's a lot of men."

The king smiled at her and said, "So it is, my dear, so it is."

Prince Matthew walked over to where Clare and Lucy were sitting, and looked down at the chess board. He picked up one of Clare's pieces and moved it so it had Lucy's queen check-mated.

"Check- mate." He said and smiled down at Clare. Clare looked at Lucy who looked back at her. They both knew that Prince Matthew had a thing for Clare, and neither one of them liked it. Peter, Edmund, and Alexander, who had also noticed, didn't like it, either.

"I'm exhausted, I think I'll head up to my room." Clare said, and she stood up.

"I am, also. Do you mind if I escort you?" Prince Matthew smiled slyly at Clare.

"I think I'd rather walk alone, but thank you for your offer."

"Nonsense, our rooms are in the same hallway, we might as well go up together." He said. There was no way she could refuse him.

"Peter, would you care to join us, since your room is _also_ in the same part of the castle?" Clare asked him. Peter could see in her eyes that she was begging for him to walk up with herself and Matthew, so that she wouldn't be alone with him.

"Of course, I would love to." He said. He walked over to Clare, and offered her his hand. She took it, and he helped her up. He then put out his arm for her to take, which she did, and they walked upstairs together, with a grumpy Matthew following behind.

"Thank you for walking me up, Peter, I just don't think I could _stand_ walking up here with him alone." Clare shivered at the thought.

"No problem, Clare." He told her. "I've seen the way he looks at you, though, it's in his eyes. He wants you, Clare, and he'll do anything to get you." Peter looked at Clare's face, worry in his eyes.

"I know, Lucy and I see it too." Clare said. She was scared; scared that Matthew would try anything to get Clare to be his, and she was worried.

"If you need anything, anything at all, I'm just a little ways down the hall, Clare." Peter told her.

"Thank you, Peter."

Clare gave him a hug goodnight, and then went into her room for the night.

* * *

**Yay, another chapter completed! I can't wait until we get into the war and afterwards, because those are the exciting parts!**

**Leave a comment or suggestion!**

**-B**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next morning, Clare woke up to the smell of salt water, and the sound of sea gulls squawking. When she opened her door, she saw that all of the others were closed. She figured that she was the only one up; she was an early riser.

She made her way down the stairs, and to the door of the lounge that she had been in the previous night. When she opened them, she found that she was not the only one up; so was Prince Matthew.

"Of course." Clare thought. "Just my luck. Why couldn't it have been Ed or Lucy or anyone else?"

"Ah, Clare. Good morning to you. When I woke, I saw that no one else was up yet, so I decided to come down here. I see you had the same idea. Great minds think alike, don't they?" He asked her.

"Good morning to you, Prince Matthew. How are you this fine morning?" Clare asked through gritted teeth. Her mother always told her that even if you disliked someone, you still had to be polite.

"I'm marvelous, thank you for asking." Matthew gestured to a chair. "Please, sit down."

Clare walked over to the chair and sat. Matthew sat across from her, and looked her up and down.

"Is there something you wished to ask me, Prince Matthew?"

He looked up at her eyes. "Hm? Oh, yes, I've been meaning to ask you this ever since last evening, but that King Peter got in the way." He sneered when he said Peter's name.

"Peter didn't get in the way of anything." Clare's temper rose a little. She wouldn't stand for anyone to say anything disrespectful about her friends.

"Yes, of course. Anyway, what I was meaning to ask you was-" He was interrupted by the footsteps that ran down the stairs. It was Lucy, of course.

"Good morning, Clare!" She said, very energetically. She didn't bother saying 'good morning' to Prince Matthew. "How are you?" She didn't even wait for a reply. "Guess what? Peter says that we're going on a tour of Calormen today! Isn't that wonderful?"

"Yes, it is." Clare said. "Lucy, you might want to calm down a little, the others are still sleeping."

"Okay!" She said. "Clare, I want to show you this _marvelous_ painting that I discovered by my room yesterday. Let me show you!" She said as she grabbed Clare's hand and pulled her out of the room and up the stairs.

When they got to Lucy's room, they stopped, and the latter let go of Clare's hand.

"You're welcome." Lucy said to her.

"I didn't even know he was there; his door was closed, there wasn't any noise at all." Clare told her.

"He's doing that to trick you, Clare, and he's going to do it again, so watch out." Lucy stressed to her.

"I know, and Peter and Alexander told me that if I ever needed them so that I wouldn't be alone with Matthew, to just call."

"That's good that they've noticed; I think Ed has too." Lucy thought about it.

"What should I do if I'm ever alone with him?" Clare asked her.

"Well, the first thing you should do is call for someone; either me, Susan, Ed, Peter, or Alexander, he seems to like you very much." Lucy told her and smiled.

"Oh Lucy, not _that_ way, he just wants to be friends with me, that's _all_." She told the younger girl. "What do I do if I can't call anyone?"

"If you call someone, and no one comes, then I would just step on his feet or kick him in the shins or something; I don't know, I've never had to deal with this kind of thing before. Maybe you should ask Edmund or Alexander." Lucy said.

"I'll do that when they wake up." Clare said.

At last, when everyone in the castle was woken up, Clare went to find Ed. She found him sitting on his bed. She knocked a few times, to make sure he heard her.

"Come in." he said.

And she did. She told him about this morning, and Lucy interrupting Matthew. Ed got a look on his face that Clare didn't like.

"If he does anything, Peter will kill him. Scratch that; Peter will kill him, and then _I_ will kill him." He said as he looked out the door.

"Lucy told me that if I ever get left alone with him, just to scream for her, you, Peter, Susan, or Alexander, and if that doesn't work, kick him in the shins." Clare told him.

"That's right, you do that; but we _will_ come for you, Clare, we would never let him get the chance to be alone with you." Ed told her.

"But what if I _am_ left alone with him, but not on purpose, like this morning? Lucy said he did that to trick me, and he'll do it again." She started to cry softly now, and Ed pulled her into a hug.

"Shh, it's alright, Clare, I can act like your bodyguard; I won't leave you when we're anywhere near him, how does that sound?"

"Oh Ed, I can't thank you enough; I can't wait until we go back to Narnia, I'll be so much more pleasant there. I'm sorry I'm being such a bother." She apologized.

"It's perfectly fine, Clare, I don't like it here either. If I didn't have to come, I wouldn't have, trust me." He said to her.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, then Clare gave him a hug and stood up, and so did Ed.

"Shall we go and find Peter?" Ed asked her.

"No. I don't want him worrying about me, he has enough on his mind."

"But-"

"No, please Ed, _please_ don't tell Peter, if it becomes serious, I will tell him, but for now, I only want you, me Lucy, and Alexander to know. And maybe Susan, if she gets suspicious." Clare said.

"Alright, but if Peter finds out that we didn't tell him, he's going to be _pretty_ mad."

"And I'll tell him that I didn't want anyone to tell him, so you won't get in trouble at all, how's that?" Clare asked him.

"I guess you don't know Peter, then." Ed said as he followed Clare out of his room and down the hallway.

At breakfast, Clare sat beside Peter and Edmund. A disgruntled Matthew sat across from her, and Lucy and Alexander sat on either side of him. The king, who had no idea of anything that was going on, was very cheery this morning.

After breakfast, they went out to the stables and saddled up some of the horses, and started the tour of Calormen Lucy talked about earlier. They saw many different things, like people dressed in all sorts of strange clothes, and the architecture of the buildings was fabulous.

Prince Matthew rode up beside Clare and started telling her about Calormen, and Edmund rode up on her other side. Matthew looked at him like he was something the cat dragged in, but ignored him (which was just _fine_ with Edmund), and continued talking to Clare.

As the tour drew to a close, the king stopped to talk to some people that were inquiring about the Pevensies and Clare. At that time, Ed asked Clare to follow him, and they rode over to where Lucy and Alexander were, as they had been talking to one another.

"We have made a plan, Clare and I, to not let her be alone with Prince Matthew. I will stay by her side whenever Matthew is with us, but if I am ever to be occupied, one of you need to stay beside Clare and make sure Matthew doesn't try anything." Ed told the two. They talked of their plan for a while, and agreed on never leaving Clare alone.

When they got back to King Gregory's castle, the Pevensies, Clare, and Princes Alexander and Matthew went into the library to relax. Clare took a chair next to Lucy and Edmund, while Peter and Susan sat on the couch in front of the fireplace, and began to read. The two princes sat at a table with chairs, and started a board game.

After a while, after they had finished their books, and the princes had finished their game (with Alexander winning), they planned to go on a picnic.

"This is certainly a splendid day for a picnic!" Lucy said, as the seven of them headed to the kitchens to get some food for it.

"I agree; the weather is just right." Clare said.

When they had gotten their food, they headed out into the garden to lay out the blanket and set up the food. It was a wonderful picnic; all sorts of different foods, some that the Narnians had never seen or had before. There assortments of different pies, cakes, salads, jellies, jams, sandwiches and drinks that were so sweet, it was like honey and sugar had been poured into each one.

After the picnic, it started to get cloudy, so they headed inside. They talked of England some more, as Prince Alexander was just breath taken at the thought of a world like that.

As dusk drew near, they walked up the Grand Staircase, said good night, and went into their rooms. No one knew it yet, but tomorrow was certainly going to be a day _full_ of surprises.

* * *

**I'm not very happy with this chapter, but I have to make some fillers. I ****_promise_**** that upcoming chapters will be better, trust me.**

**Leave a comment!**

**-B**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

That morning, Clare woke up to the sound of people talking outside her door. She recognized one of the voices as Prince Matthew's, while the other seemed to belong to Prince Brandon. As she got closer to the door, she pressed her ear up against it; her mother told her never to eavesdrop, but Clare had heard her name, and she had a right to know what was being said about her.

"I plan to make her my wife, and I don't care if I have to force her; she will be mine, Brandon, and nobody, not even that _Peter_ can stop me. If she doesn't marry me willingly, I shall blackmail her with one of the lives of the Pevensies. I am sure _that_ will change her attitude."

"You know, Matthew, there are other ways of making a girl marry you than blackmailing her." Prince Brandon told his older brother. "Try being _nice_ to her, that might do the trick; she might be more willing than if you threaten to take the life of one of her friends."

"I don't want to go through the trouble of having to do that, though, Brandon. See, the thing is, Clare is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, maybe, besides Queen Susan, but even if I wanted to marry _her_, Peter and the others would die before that happened. But Clare, she wouldn't be as important to them as their own sister, and it's not like Edmund or Peter actually _fancy_ her, they're just trying to protect her from me, but it's no use; I will have her, if I have to burn all of Narnia to get her. It's not that I love her, she just doesn't desire me the way all of the other Calormen women do; she wants me to chase her."

"Are you sure?" Prince Brandon asked him. "She just might not like you."

"No, it's not that, she just has this, this _fire_, and it won't easily be controlled, but I will make it be, so help me." He said definitely. "Besides, I need an heir, and who better to be the mother than a lady with features like hers? Our children will be the most beautiful in all of Calormen and its surrounding countries. What any of the women here wouldn't _give _to be the mother of them."

"Alright," Prince Brandon said. "But don't include me in this. I will not help you force Lady Clare into being your wife, nor will I kill anyone for you."

"That's just fine, my brother, but if you tell anyone of this plan, I will personally find you, and I will see you executed before dawn tomorrow." Prince Matthew said as he turned away from his brother and retreated back into his room.

Clare was shocked at what she had just heard; how could he do such a thing? She knew that Matthew wanted her, but to that extent? She needed to tell Alexander, Edmund, and most importantly, the king. She needed to do that without Matthew knowing that she had heard; maybe through writing? She should talk to Alexander first; maybe he has an idea.

She went down to Alexander's room, knocked three times, heard an answer, and went in. She told him about his brother's plan, and he was furious. He wanted to go down to see the king right away, but Clare made him wait. She told him after breakfast she would tell him.

And so she did. Breakfast came and went, and true to her word, Clare went to the king and told him about his son's plan. He was shocked and surprised that his son could think of doing such a thing.

"And you're sure you heard correctly?"

"Yes, I did. I heard the whole conversation as plain as day. Please forgive me for eavesdropping on them, sir." Clare told the king.

"No matter, what's important is my son's intentions, and I assure you that they will not be fulfilled. I will speak to Matthew personally." He placed a strong hand on Clare's shoulder.

"Thank you, sir."

After that conversation, she went to Peter and asked him the soonest they could leave.

"We could leave later today, if you wish, but won't you tell me why?" Peter had concern on his face.

Clare told him that she thought that they had spent enough time there, and there really was no reason for them to stay any longer, if all business had been attended to. She also added that she was homesick for her own bed.

"I suppose we can leave, let me just inform my siblings and the king." He told her as he got up and went over to where Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were sitting.

Clare was relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with Matthew any longer, but sorry that they had to leave because of him. She greatly liked the king and queen, and the other sons, and maybe someday, if Matthew got married, they could visit Calormen again.

After everyone had packed and the horse were ready, the king, queen, Alexander, and Brandon came out to see them off. They waved goodbye; the Calormen folk told the Narnians that they hoped that they had enjoyed their time, and the Pevensies and Clare thanked them for their hospitality. They set off for Narnia a few minutes after.

When they got to Cair Paravel, Clare was thankful to be back in familiar surroundings. Everyone took their bags up to their rooms and unpacked; it took about two hours for them to get everything sorted. Then, they went to dinner and talked about their visit to Claormen, and they all agreed they were glad to be back. After dinner, the five went into the lounge, where there was a piano.

"Oh! I love playing the piano! I had one at my house, and I'd play it all the time." She said as she walked up to it and ran her hands down the keys. "Do you mind if I play?"

"Not at all." They said, and Clare sat down to play. She played a beautiful piece by Bach, and when she finished, the four Pevensies clapped.

"That was absolutely fantastic, Clare!" Lucy complimented her.

"Yes, simply marvelous." Susan said.

"Thank you. I started taking piano lesson when I was four, and have ever since." She told them.

"Wow." Lucy said.

As ten-o-clock drew near, Peter walked over to Clare.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Would you like to go somewhere a little more private?" Clare asked him.

"Yes. Shall we go into the library?"

They walked into the library; Peter sat down, and Clare sat across from him.

"I've been meaning to ask you a question for a while now." He looked down at the floor for a few moments, and then looked at Clare's face.

"Yes?" Clare wondered what it could be.

"I was meaning to ask you if I might be able to court you?" Peter asked calmly. He tried to look at her eyes to see if he could see anything, but it was dark, so he couldn't.

Clare was surprised by the question, but not shocked, as she thought that Peter might ask her that sometime. "Yes, you may. I know my parents would just adore you, and I think that they would agree."

Peter's face filled with relief as he grinned; Clare did the same. Peter got up from his seat and hugged her, he was so happy that she was finally his.

"Should we tell your siblings, or wait a while?" Clare asked as she hugged him back.

"I think we should tell them; they will be so pleased."

They walked back into the lounge, side-by-side, and stood in front of the younger Pevensie children.

"We have an announcement to make!" Peter said excitedly and looked over at Clare who grinned back.

"Well, announce it already!" Edmund said as they waited for them to continue.

"Peter and I are in a courtship!" Clare told them, still grinning.

Lucy and Susan squealed with excitement, while Edmund clapped.

"I knew it! I knew that he would ask her when we got back, Edmund! I win the bet!" Lucy told her older brother as he fished her payment out of his pocket.

"Shut it." Ed told her as he handed her winnings over, and she smiled as she took it.

It was now very late, so they all decided it was best that they get some rest, but Clare found it very hard to sleep with her thoughts floating through her mind.

The next morning, Clare woke up to a crashing noise in the hallway. She got up to go look, but just as she opened the door, Edmund grabbed her and pulled her back into her room, shutting the door in the process.

"Edmund! Whatever is the matter?!" Clare asked him, surprised and worried at how he came in.

"Shh!" He told her. "Someone has found out that we're here, and they want you! Somehow, they found out about you, how you're a daughter of Eve as well, and they want you for a sacrifice!" He went over to her balcony doors, shut them, locked them, and pulled the curtains.

"Who? Who wants me?" She whispered frantically.

"The White Witch." He said, his face pale. "She's sent some of her followers here to capture you and bring you to her!" He whispered.

"How do you know?"

"I saw them. I saw a minotaur, a dwarf, and a wolf. I was in the Entrance Hall, and I looked out the window. They must have seen me, for they looked at me and started reading off a scroll that said that she was back and that she wanted you in exchange for not harming us!" Edmund said to Clare.

"But why? Why does she want _me_? She doesn't even know me!"

"That's what I don't understand." Edmund seemed to be thinking of a reason for the White Witch to take Clare, when really (Edmund didn't wish for this, but it seemed most reasonable), she should want to take revenge on him.

Clare was now shaking with fear, too shocked to do anything else. "Where's Peter?"

"He wasn't downstairs when I was, so he might still be asleep. Let's go wake him."

As Ed quietly and carefully unlocked the door, he stuck his head out into the hallway to see if anyone was there; when he saw no one, he gestured for Clare to follow him down to Peter's room. When they got there, Ed knocked quietly, and they heard a tired voice say, "Come in."

"Peter! The most awful thing has happened!" Clare said as she stood in the middle of Peter's room, still shaking and her face as white as a sheet of paper. She wouldn't look him directly in the eye. The White Witch wanted her for some reason unbeknownst to her, and she had put them all in danger because of it.

"Clare, whatever is the matter?" Peter's face was full of concern.

"She wants me. The White Witch wants me as a sacrifice." Clare told him, still averting her eyes to the dresser in the corner.

Peter got out of his bed, walked over to her, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Clare, tell me why she wants you. Edmund, you tell me anything that she doesn't." He told the shaking girl and the worried boy.

Clare told Peter about Ed coming into her room, and everything that he had told her.

"Is this right, Ed?"

"Yes." The younger boy said quietly. "Oh, please, Peter, don't let her take Clare, you've got to stop her!" He begged.

"Why would I ever do that?" He asked as he pulled Clare into a hug. "Don't worry, Clare, I promise, the Witch will have to go through all of Calormen and Narnia before she gets to you."

"Oh Peter, I'm so scared! I put all of you in danger, and I don't even know why she wants me!" Clare cried into his shirt.

"It's alright, Clare. We will think of a way to stop her, and this time, we will make sure she can't come back."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"How will we do that?"

"By destroying any chance of her return; no prisoners, not one of her followers spared, burn all things that give any indication of how to bring her back." Peter looked over at Edmund. "When this war comes, we will be ready. Have all of the soldiers train as hard as they can, make sure _they_ are ready; if the soldiers aren't, then we don't stand a chance."

Ed nodded, then walked out of the room. He was in charge of training and managing the troops, and he was good at it; if Edmund had enough time to really train the troops, then they would most certainly defeat the Witch. He to look at the sheet Peter had posted to see if anyone had signed up, and everyone did. He was so proud of them for being willing to fight her again to protect Narnia, which, is understandable, since it _is_ their homeland. I'm sure if it came down to it, everyone would fight for their country.

Peter and Clare were still in an embrace; neither wanted to let go. It had a feeling of safety, being held in someone's arms. He kissed the top of her head, then decided it was time to go practice sword fighting again.

When they were in the arena, Peter and Clare dueled for about an hour, before they heard a scream. They looked up on the hill, and saw Lucy running to the top.

"Peter! Come quick, it's Her!" She called down to her brother. "She wants to see Clare!"

Clare's face regained it pale color, and Peter noticed.

"Don't worry, Clare, she won't get to you."

Clare couldn't look at him. "I know, but I'm putting all of you in danger, and I don't even know how!"

"Well, let's go see what she wants."

Peter took her by the hand, and led her up the hill. When they got to the top, they were astonished at what they saw. There was the White Witch, sitting in her litter with her creatures carrying her (similar to how she appeared to speak to Aslan about Edmund the first time they were in Narnia), and about a hundred of her followers at her side. If she had this many just to go to Cair Paravel, no one wanted to think about how many she actually had.

"Greetings, King Peter." She called from her spot on the level ground. "It has been a long time, and you never sent any letters."

Some of her followers snickered. Peter raised his head higher. Clare looked at him nervously. By this time, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy were up on the hill as well.

"What I wanted to discuss with you, my king, is that girl." She looked over at Clare who looked like she would collapse at any moment.

"What do you want with her?" Edmund snarled.

"I want her in exchange for your lives. You see, there was another prophecy, one that was long lost." The Witch didn't take her eyes off of Clare. Her breathing was getting faster and faster. "It said: 'If there shall be a fifth child of Adam and Eve, that child will have the power to make evil fall or rise, and make its enemies crumble at its feet.' I guess you can think of who that child is, can't you, King Peter?" She smirked at him. "So what will it be?"

"I guess you'll just have to kill us." Peter told the Witch.

Jadis, for the first time, took her eyes off of Clare, and placed then on Peter. It looked as if she was trying to stare deep into his soul. "Very well. I shall come back tomorrow, and I _will _speak with you privately, _your majesty_. We have more to discuss." She said. She then was carried off back to her old castle, which she had rebuilt.

The five children stood at the top of the hill, watching her as she left. They stayed there a few moments after, and then proceeded to walk back down the hill.

"She just had all of those creatures there to scare us." Edmund said as he watched his feet.

"Yes, but she has many more at her castle; if she had that many here today, she will be recruiting more." Peter told them.

Clare did not speak at all until dinner, and even then she barely did.

"Clare, she's _not _going to get you!" They reassured her many, many times, and she replied, "I know that, but I can't help but think that I put Narnia in danger, which I did, didn't I?" The others didn't know how to answer her, so they remained quiet.

Tomorrow came, and just like she said, the Witch was back at high noon, with her hundred followers on her sides. She demanded to speak to Peter privately, and he obliged, very unwillingly. They seemed to talk for forever, but it was only about two hours. Susan, Edmund, Clare, and Lucy waited outside in the garden for Peter to finish, but they soon got bored. They started playing a game called, 'Name That Object', where one person thinks of an object, animal, or person, and the others have to guess what the person is thinking of. You can only ask 'yes' or 'no' questions, one at a time, and the first person to guess it wins. The game made everyone cheery for the time being, as someone would ask a very amusing question, and everyone else would laugh at it. Edmund was usually the one to ask questions like that, but sometimes, one of the girls would, too. Lucy went first.

"Are you thinking of yourself?" Edmund asked her.

"No! I haven't even given you any clues yet!"

"Worth a shot."

"Is it human?"

"No."

"Does it wear decent clothes?"

"No."

"Now now, let's not pick on Ed."

"Hey!"

"Oh, I think I'm stumped, Lu." Susan furrowed her eyebrows.

"Whoever could it be?" Clare asked.

"Just a few more guesses!"

"Oh, alright."

"Is it an animal?"

"Yes."

"Is it Edmund?" Susan asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Lucy laughed. "N-no, it's n-not E-Edmund."

"Does it have two legs?"

"No."

"Does it have four legs?"

"Yes."

"Does it come in many different colors?"

"Not really."

"Only 'yes' or 'no' answers."

"Fine. _No_."

"Is it... a horse?" Clare shouted.

"Yes! I thought you'd _never_ get it!"

"I win!" Clare smiled gleefully as it was now her turn to pick an object.

The exact time as this was going on outside, Peter and the Witch sat in the Council Hall.

"Good afternoon, King Peter." She mockingly bowed.

"Sit down, witch." He told her, harshly.

"Let us discuss this prophecy."

"Speak."

"I told you yesterday about the fifth child of Adam and Eve. What I didn't tell you is that she and I have a special...bond." The Witch told Peter. "It was made the moment that she stepped into Narnia. You see, when we have this next war, and you are about to kill me, for the second time," she added, "think of your precious Clare, and know that if you kill me, she will die too."

Peter looked at the Witch with hatred as she smiled smugly, for she knew that that had gotten his attention. He didn't know how he would handle this. He would talk to Ed about it after the Witch had left, and they would come up with an alternative plan; this kind of thing was Ed's specialty, thinking of things to do.

"I think we have said all that needs to be." Peter dismissed her.

"Yes, I think we have."

They walked to the doors, and walked out. Ed saw that they had concluded their meeting, waited until the Witch had left, and watched Peter walk back inside.

"Peter doesn't look too good, I'll go in and check on him. You girls stay outside and continue your game, I'll come back out after I talk to Peter." Edmund told them.

After Ed had walked inside, he looked around for Peter, but found no one.

"Peter?" He called into the dim castle, as the sun was now beginning to set. No answer. Just then, he heard glass smashing in the Throne Room, and jogged to see if his brother was alright. When he got there, he found him pacing back and forth, broken glass on the floor, and his hands bloody.

"Peter? Are you quite alright? What did the Witch say?" Edmund asked his brother.

"Do you remember the prophecy she spoke of? The one about the fifth child of Adam and Eve? Well, there was more to that then she told us."

"What do you mean?" Edmund didn't know if he would like what Peter was about to tell him, but he had to know.

Peter stopped pacing and looked at him. "There's a bond between the Witch and Clare, that was made when Clare first stepped into Narnia, and if we kill the Witch, Clare will die too."

Edmund was rigid. How could this be? There has to be some way around it, and he would do everything he could to look for one.

"Should we tell Clare?"

Peter thought about it for a minute, and then came to a conclusion. "Yes, yes, I think we should; since this concerns her, she has a right to know, and to make a decision. We shall tell her tonight."

"Well, we had an interesting day, didn't we, ladies?" Susan asked Clare and Lucy.

"Oh, it was ever so much fun!" Lucy squealed.

"Yes, I agree, it was very amusing." Clare smiled at her.

They were going to head into dinner when Peter and Edmund asked Clare if they could speak with her. They took her into the Council Hall where they knew it would be private.

"Clare, I wanted to talk to you about something that the White Witch told me about." Peter said. This was very hard for him, as she was going to have to choose; kill the White Witch and die with her, or let the Witch live and have her around again like last time.

They explained to her about the prophecy, the bond, and what the Witch had said. She regained her pale color, and closed her eyes. She stayed like that for a while, then opened her eyes and looked at Peter.

"I've made a decision." She looked him right in the eyes. "When this war comes, I want you to kill the White Witch. The first chance you get, I don't want you to think twice about it; kill her. That's final, I'm not changing my mind."

"Clare, I'm sure there are ways around it, we can find a way." Peter looked nervous.

"No Peter, there is no other way. I want to save Narnia, not destroy it. Please, this is my choice."

"Can't we just talk about this?" He pleaded with her, for he certainly didn't want her to die. He loved her.

"No Peter!" Clare was starting to get teary-eyed. "There's nothing to talk about! I've made my decision, and I _need_ to do this!"

Edmund looked from Peter to Clare, and sighed. "She's right, Peter, this is her choice, and we have to stand by her."

"Thank you, Edmund."

He nodded to her, and then looked back at his brother. Peter sighed, and then agreed. "Fine, I understand that it's your decision, but I just don't want you to get hurt, Clare." He told her.

"I know, Peter, I don't want to, but this is something that I have to do."

"Alright." He looked at her like he could never look at her enough; he just wanted to protect her, but there was no way he could this time. She was going to die; there was no preventing it, unless they did not destroy the Witch, but Clare would never allow that.

They decided that this was enough of this conversation, and the three of them walked to the Dining Hall where the other two girls were waiting for them.

"There you are! We were wondering where you could have gone." Susan told them as they walked to their chairs and took their seats.

"It's fine, Susan, we were just discussing some plans." Edmund told her. That whole night, Peter kept glancing over at Clare, and she at him.

"You are making me nervous; is there something that you're not telling us?" Lucy finally asked them after they had glanced at each other for the ump-teenth time.

"No." Peter and Clare said together.

"I think you are. Please, tell us what it is."

"It's not really any of your concern, Lucy." Peter told his sister.

She was quiet after that. The rest of the meal, Edmund, Peter, and Clare were on edge. After dinner, Clare was the first to rise. She walked fast, and went up to her room. She shut the door and went out onto her balcony.

"Oh, Aslan," She said up to the sky, "you brought me here for me to be happy, but now I have to die for Narnia. I'm honored to be able to make such a sacrifice to save her, but why did you bring me here so that I would die?" Clare asked as a tear rolled down her cheek. She thought of the Pevensies, how much fun she had had, her adventures, the beautiful things she had seen, and then she thought of Peter. Aslan had brought her here to be with Peter, which she was, but it was nothing more than a courtship, and they hadn't even kissed yet. She started to cry lightly as she thought of all of the things that she and him would have been able to accomplish had she not have to die. Maybe they would have gotten married, had some children, watched them grow into kings and queens of Narnia, and then died of old age, next to Peter, with her children all grown up with families of their own. But, sadly, she would never know because in two days, when this war started, she would die, and Peter would move on; he had to. Clare wanted him to, because she couldn't _bear_ seeing him alone for the rest of his life.

By this time, everyone else had left the table, and three of them went into the library, while one of them went upstairs to Clare's room. It was Edmund.

"Clare?" He asked softly as he knocked and opened the door to find her standing outside. She turned to look at him; her face was red and wet from tears, but she was still beautiful. It had this light, like someone was shining a light on it, and it just glowed. It was magnificent.

"Oh Edmund!" She cried as she ran to him and embraced him, crying into his shoulder. He held her, and spoke soothing words to her and rubbed her back gently.

"Clare, just think about right now, and how happy we are, and think about how much fun we had in the past; like when I was drunk on the marble polisher, or you and Peter were training, you had fun then, didn't you? Or, think of the game we played outside this afternoon; I thought that was _very_ interesting."

Clare dried her eyes and looked at him. "Yes, we did have some fun." She smiled softly. "I'm sorry about your shirt." She looked at the wet spot she had made.

"That's alright. Are you better now?"

She sniffed and nodded. "Yes; I was just thinking about how, if I didn't have to...make this sacrifice, how our future would look like. I was thinking about all five of us, and Peter and I, if we would get married or have children, or if I would die of old age, with all of you beside me." She told him, looking at the floor.

"I know, I'm so sorry, Clare, but one thing that I'm not sorry about," he tried to get her to look him in the eyes, "is you coming to Narnia. Think of all of the things that we wouldn't have experienced; all of the adventures and such."

"I would never regret meeting Peter on the train; that's how I met him. I think Aslan had Peter and I bump into each other. I think he wanted us to meet, so that I would have a reason to come to Narnia, and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't redo anything from that moment on, because even though I have to die in two days, it's for a place I love and for people I love." She told him as she hugged Ed again.

He smiled at her comment; he would have to tell Peter; when he was grieving over the loss of Clare (as they all would be, though Peter will most likely take it the hardest), Edmund promised that he would tell Peter what Clare had just told him. About meeting him for the first time.

"I think we should go downstairs and join the others, what do you think?" He asked Clare.

She nodded her head, and he stood up to help her to her feet. They walked downstairs together, and walked into the library. Peter and the sisters looked up as they entered, but the two girls went back to their game when they saw that it was just Clare and Ed. Peter, however, did not. He watched them enter, and sit down on a couch across from the chair that he, himself was sitting in. He went back to his reading when he saw them get a book from a shelf, and start reading. Everyone was happy with their book or game, until it grew very late. Peter suggested that they head upstairs, as they have much planning to do tomorrow. They walked upstairs how they usually do, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy in front, with Peter and Clare following behind. Then, they separated and went to their individual rooms, and were silent the rest of the night.

* * *

**So? How is it so far? Believe me, we aren't even halfway done with this story yet, I still got until they are all like 40! **

**The Great War is in the next chapter, working on it now!**

**Leave a comment!**

**-B**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The next morning, everyone in the castle was awake early, for they wanted to have everything ready for the Great War the next day. It was barley sun-up when everyone was fully awake and dressed, ready to work.

"I really don't know what to do." Clare said as Peter and Edmund bustled around the castle, getting maps and plans.

"Well, you could always go down to the beach with Susan and Lucy for a while." Peter told her as he took an armful of battle plans into the Council Hall. Clare followed him.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I think I'll do that; promise me one thing, Peter." She told him as he sorted out the parchments. "Please, look at me when I talk to you." He turned around. "Thank you. Now, as I was saying, promise me that you will make some time for me later in the day; I would like to spend some time with you before the war." She told him with a straight face. Peter seemed to have almost forgotten that Clare wasn't going to be here after the war tomorrow, and now his face fell.

"I promise. After Ed and I speak to the soldiers about these plans, we will be able to do something together; you have my word." He looked her in the eyes.

She smiled softly, and then went to find Susan and Lucy. They were sitting in the garden, and Susan was braiding her sister's hair. When they saw Clare, they smiled and asked her if she would like to do something.

"Yes, I would, actually; I was going to ask you if you would like to go down to the beach and maybe have a picnic?"

"That sounds very fun, let's go!" Lucy got up and started running towards the beach when she realized that she had forgotten something and stopped. "I suppose we need food and a blanket if we are going to have a picnic." Now she started running off in the direction of the castle.

"Lucy, wait up!" Susan called to her.

But she didn't listen; she kept on running towards the castle. As soon as she got to the grass hill between the castle and the garden, she tripped and fell.

"Lucy!" Clare and Susan screamed as they ran to see what had happened to her. They saw her rolling down the hill, and laughing.

"Lucy always turns something scary into something good." Susan said.

The next minute, Clare got down on the ground and started rolling after the younger girl. A few seconds later, Susan did as well.

When they all got to the bottom, the three of them laid there for a while, looking up at the clouds.

"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Lucy asked them. "How you can imagine all sorts of different shapes and animals in the clouds."

"I see a man riding a horse; and an apple tree!" Clare said, pointing to the figures.

Susan stared at the sky, trying to make a cloud take the form of something she could recognize. "I see...a giant snake!" She told them after a moment.

"And I see a ship, sailing on the sea!" Lucy said as she concentrated on the sky.

They gazed at the clouds for a while, then decided to get started on their picnic. They got up out of the grass and walked back to the castle together.

They gathered all sorts of treats for later, like tarts, small cakes, jams, muffins, and fruit, because Susan said it would justify the sweets. After picking out food, the girls walked down to the sandy shore of the sea, picked a nice, warm spot, and spread out their blanket. They talked of England for a while, like their home-towns and such.

"So, what is Finchley like?" Clare asked them.

"Well, it's not very different from any other town, I guess. It's not very...exciting." Lucy told her.

"My town isn't either," Clare told them, taking an apple out of the basket. "we just have a lot of people."

"Where is it you live, Clare?" Susan asked the girl with a curious expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I never told you. I'm from Edenbridge. It's not that big of a town; around eight-thousand people, I guess."

"Finchley is a middle sized town; it has quite a number of people. I don't really know what the population is; they didn't take a census due to the war." Susan thought about it.

They talked of many more things for about an hour and a half, then decided to go inside and see if the men were done, or taking a break, from their planning.

"Peter! Edmund! We've come to see if you have concluded your work. Come say hello to us!" Susan called as they entered the castle.

The doors to the Council Hall opened, and out came the men, with very tired and frustrated expressions on their faces, but they smiled when they saw the girls.

"Ah, hello, ladies, did you enjoy your picnic? Lovely day for one, isn't it?" Peter asked all five walked to the center of the Entrance Hall.

"Yes, it was very fun. We talked about many things!" Lucy told them.

"That's good. We have stopped planning for today, and we will finish it up in the morning before the War. Right now, we shall do other things." Edmund said to the girls.

Clare looked to Peter, as they had agreed to spend some time together later today. It was now late afternoon, and it was getting cooler. Susan asked if anyone wanted to take a walk around the castle, and Lucy and Edmund went with her. That left the two eldest to go somewhere.

"Where would you like to go?" Peter inquired.

"Would you like to go riding?" Clare asked him. "I would love to watch the sunset over the sea."

"Let's go, then." He held out his arm for her, and she smiled and took it.

They rode to a cliff overlooking the sea, and the beautiful setting sun. The light reflected on the water so perfectly, it looked like gold. The sky was a mixture of blue, pink, purple, orange, yellow, and a little bit of green.

Peter looked over at Clare, who was looking at the scenery and smiling softly; her face captured the gold color of the water, and it was very pretty.

"What will I do without you?" Peter thought as he studied her, for what would probably be the last time he got to see her like this.

Clare looked over at him with a solemn expression, then she smiled ever so slightly. This was their first real outing since they became a couple, and their last, but she loved it all the same.

As the sun got lower and lower, the two got off of their horses and sat on the edge of the cliff, holding each other's hands, as Clare rested her head on Peter's shoulder.

"This is beautiful; thank you Peter." She told him. "You make this even more special."

"You make this special for _me_, Clare, and I couldn't be happier." He shifted so he was now looking her in the eyes. The sun was almost gone.

She smiled as she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, but as soon as she pulled back, he softly put a hand on her cheek and pulled her close to him again, and kissed her.

It was a long, sweet kiss, and neither wanted it to end. When the sun had finally set, they broke apart, breathless.

"I think we should get back, before it gets too late." Clare told him, but didn't move.

Peter nodded in agreement, stood up, and helped her up. She brushed off her dress, looked up at him and smiled; he smiled right back at her.

They rode back to the castle, quietly went inside, and went right upstairs, as they were going to have a busy day tomorrow.

"Goodnight Peter, and thank you. This was a wonderful last day." Clare told him as they stood in front of her door.

Peter forced a small smile, and kissed her softly on the forehead. "Goodnight to you too, Clare, and thank _you_." He said as he looked at her for one more small moment as she walked into her room, closed the door, and then proceeded to his.

No one wanted to get up, because they knew what this day would hold. Death. War. Blood. Everyone just wanted to pretend that the White Witch was a dream, and that they would wake up from it, and go on their merry way.

But, sadly, that was not the case. There was a real war, one that they would lose their best friend in, and that's what made it different from the first one.

Peter was the first one up (of course), dressed in his armor, and was downstairs in the Dining Hall, finishing up his breakfast, when the other four came in, also dressed in their armor, looking exhausted and grim.

"I wish this wasn't happening." Lucy said as she rubbed her eyes and looked down at her plate of food. She didn't feel like eating; nobody did, really.

"Believe me, I don't want this to happen any more than you do." Clare picked up her fork and stabbed her eggs.

Lucy looked up at Clare with an apologetic look on her face, but the latter smiled and shook her head.

Peter looked up at Clare from his empty plate and said, "I've decided that you will stay in the Healer's Tent with Lucy today, Clare."

She looked at him, confused. "Why? I can fight, and it's not as if it's going to save me if I stay in a tent."

"I know, but I just think that it would be better if you stayed in there and help out for a little while." His tone softened.

She looked from Peter to Edmund to Lucy, as if trying to make one of them help her.

"Peter's got a point, Clare, maybe it would be best if you stayed in the tent." Edmund told her flatly.

Lucy shrugged. "We _will_ have a lot of soldiers, I'm sure, that will need tending to, and there can never be enough healers."

Clare sighed deeply, and continued stabbing her eggs. After about twenty minutes, Peter, Susan, and Edmund went out to the armory to get their weapons: sword, bow and arrows, and sword, respectively, while Lucy and Clare went to get the Healing Tents supplied and ready for use.

It was not an easy task; they had to get bandages, antiseptics, splints, and all sorts of different medical supplies. The cots that they laid out were long, wooden things with white sheets stretched out on them. After the boys and Susan had gotten their weapons, they met Lucy and Clare in the tent.

"This looks exciting." Edmund said as he watched them stock cupboards with bottles of medicine.

"Well, you could always help out, Ed, if it's so exciting." Clare said as she looked over her shoulder at him.

"No thanks, I wouldn't want to take away your fun."

Susan elbowed him in the ribs. "We can help with anything if you need it. Just tell us what to do."

"I think we're almost done, but thanks anyway, Susan."

Peter looked around the tent, which was surprisingly big, and sighed. "I can't believe we're having _another_ war, right after we get out of one."

Susan placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's for the good of Narnia."

He smiled softly and looked at Clare, and everyone knew what he was thinking.

"Yes, it is, and hopefully, when this war is done, the White Witch will have no hope of ever returning!" Clare said to the four of them.

They nodded with small smiles on their faces. "I just wish she didn't return _at all_." Lucy said.

"Well, that's life I guess." Susan said as she left the tent, with Edmund following.

Peter stayed in the exact same position as he was five minutes ago and asked, "You're sure you don't need help?"

Clare turned back around and smiled at him. "Yes, we're okay, but thank you Peter."

He nodded and followed his siblings outside.

When he was gone, Clare turned back to her work and thought about the day, and then she remembered. Today was her birthday. She was eighteen today; what a wonderful birthday present.

"Lucy, I just realized what day it is; I haven't really been keeping track since I got to Narnia." She told the young girl, who was rolling up bandages. She looked up from her work and stared at Clare with confusion and curiosity on her face.

"What is it, Clare?"

"Today is my birthday."

Lucy put down the bandage and went over to her. She gave her a hug and said, "I'm happy and sorry; happy birthday, Clare." She tried to be excited, but with the day's events-to-come, how could she? "Did you tell anyone else?"

"No," Clare told her, looking down at her feet, "I didn't want them to be distracted."

"Well, I think you should tell them; they would like to know. It would give them a chance to forget about the war for a while."

"Okay, I'll tell them, but will you come with me?" She asked her "I would like you to be there, too."

Lucy nodded and together they walked out of the tent to find the others. The three eldest Pevensie siblings were standing in the middle of the open grassy area, talking. Clare and Lucy walked over to them, and Peter, Susan, and Edmund turned to look at them.

"Clare has something that she, well, rather _I_ want her to announce." Lucy told them.

"What is it, Clare?" Ed asked.

"Well, I didn't want to distract you, but, it's my birthday today," She said, again not looking at them.

Susan walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Happy birthday, Clare."

Clare hugged her friend back and said, "Thank you, Susan."

The next one to embrace her was Edmund, but he didn't say anything. Lucy had already given her a hug, but did it again. Peter just stood there staring at her, without any emotion on his face. Clare stared right back at him.

"Are you alright, Peter?"

He still looked right in her eyes and said, "Yes, I was just thinking."

Clare shrugged to herself. "Oh well," she thought.

"Clare, would you mind taking a walk with me?" Peter asked her, still with no emotion.

She turned to Lucy. "May I?" She asked her.

"Yes, I believe we are done." She replied.

Peter held out his arm for Clare, and she walked forward and took it.

Once they were out of earshot of the others, Clare tried to start a conversation with Peter.

"So, isn't this a nice day for a birthday?" She tried to joke, but Peter only smiled lightly. She went back to staring at the front of them, the trees around them and flowers in front of them; only grass was what they walked on. It seemed that the plants had known to make a path.

"Where are we going?" Clare asked Peter, as he was leading them deeper and deeper into the forest.

"I just thought it would be nice to take a walk with you one last time; besides, this is a variation of a birthday present, walking in a beautiful woods like this."

Clare looked around her at all of the different plants. She found her favorite flower; the lily.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, pointing to the flower with her free hand. "Look, Peter! Those are lilies! It's my favorite kind of flower."

Peter walked over to the lilies (there were about four in that bunch), and picked them. He handed them to her with a small smile, and she smelled them.

"Thank you, Peter, they're lovely."

The two walked over to a small stream that was in the middle of the woods and sat down on the grass beside it.

"It's beautiful, really, all of this." Clare motioned to the nature around her. "England doesn't have this much anymore."

**"**You're right, that's what the population and technology have done, destroyed all of the true beauty." Peter looked at the gentle stream.

They gazed at their surroundings for a few more minutes until Clare spoke.

"I think we should start heading back; it's going to be time to fight soon."

Peter took his gaze off of the water. "You're right. But first, I want to do something."

He leaned in and captured her lips with his, kissing her sweetly.

Their faces were flushed when they broke apart, but both were smiling.

"Now we have to go back." Said Peter as he grabbed her hand and walked them back to camp.

When they arrived, they found the others waiting for them at a small table, eating before the war. They were still smiling.

"Where did you two go?" Edmund asked, smiling slyly.

"It's none of your business." Peter replied as he and Clare sat down next to his siblings.

Edmund kept the sly smile on his face as he took a bite out of an apple.

"Half an hour." Lucy said softly.

The smiles dropped from faces as they realized this would be their last meal together.

When they finished eating, Peter and Edmund went to go gather the troops while Susan, Lucy, and Clare went to watch Susan get some last minute archery practice in.

About ten minutes later, the sound of a horn could be heard throughout the camp. The White Witch was near.

The girls ran to where the men were, and saw Ed and Peter at the front of an army, with the soldiers behind them. It was about to begin.

The place that the armies were in was almost the same as the first battle when the Pevensies first came to Narnia.

It was amazing how many followers the Witch managed to get in such a short time. She had about two-thousand, while the Narnians had about two-thousand five hundred; not a big difference.

The girls watched a gryphon land beside Peter, and then take off again. Clare watched it soar through the sky towards the south.

As the armies faced each other, the Witch's right-hand man, a Cyclops, let out a yell, her army charged forward, and Peter lowered his helmet onto his head.

"For Narnia!" He shouted as he raced down to meet the opposing group. The other Narnians behind his all let out battle cries as they too followed Peter towards the enemy.

Lucy took off back to the tent where her bottle of fire-flower juice and dagger were, while Susan and Clare took off down the hill towards the fight.

Susan started firing at the enemy while Clare picked up a fallen sword from the ground and began to fight with them. Peter, who was now fighting a minotaur, saw Clare battling another minotaur, stabbed his, and shouted to her.

"Clare! What are you doing?! I told you to stay in the tent with Lucy! I don't want you out here!"

Clare finished off her opponent, and yelled back, "Susan's out here, why can't I help? I can fight!"

"I just don't want you out here! It's too dangerous! You need to go back to the tent, and that's an order!"

"Well, Lucy doesn't need me right now, so if I'm not needed there, I figure I should be some use to you out here!" She called as she ran forwards so that she couldn't hear Peter call after her.

She killed many creatures, and got closer and closer to the White Witch.

She saw Clare running towards her, and finished off the faun she was fighting. She smiled wickedly at her, as if daring her to come closer.

* * *

**I just wanted to get this over with! Literally, I was sitting here like, "KILL ME." I'm sorry if you think this is all sappy and stuff (which, it totally is, though not the first or the middle part, just in between there), but Peter and Clare had to do SOMETHING before she dies. **

**Oh, and by the way, I'm SOOOOO sorry for the big gap in between updates, it's just that I was sick and now that school's back on, I'm really busy; don't be mad!**

**Better chapters to come, I promise!**

**-B **


	12. Chapter 11 part 2

As Clare ran, she saw Edmund run behind the Witch, with his sword out and ready. She nodded to him, and he returned it grimly.

The Witch faced Clare, and that was good, because that would give Ed a chance to destroy her. She stopped short when she was about five ten feet away from the her, and they circled each other slowly, as if deciding whether or not they should make the first move.

"Clare, won't you help me? Together, we can take over Narnia and I will make you the High Queen over all." She told the girl.

Clare sneered at her viciously, "Don't think that I don't know about you, Witch, you would have destroyed all of the good if Peter and Aslan hadn't stopped you."

"Of course not, silly girl, I would have made it _better_." She told her as they continued to move in a circle. "I wanted to rule Narnia to make it a better place. Aslan was destroying it, not me; I was trying to help it."

Clare looked up at Edmund to see if he was close enough to her, but not yet. She tried to push the Witch closer to where Ed was standing on a ledge of rock, and she succeeded. She moved back until she was almost touching the rock, right where they wanted her.

"Clare, if you help me, I can bring your father and brothers back safely to you; we can bring your whole family to Narnia, if you like."

They both stopped pacing and stood staring at each other for a moment.

"How do you know about them?"

"I know everything, dear. I also know that you and that little king are in a courtship." Her eyes flashed to where Peter was battling a dwarf on a hill about seventy yards away.

Clare also looked to him, but it was a mistake. As soon as she took her eyes off of the Witch, she made her move. She took her sword, slashed it across Clare's arm, and made a huge gash. Edmund jumped down from his ledge, bringing both of them to the ground. They got up and started to fight. Clare picked up the sword she had dropped and ran up behind the Witch. She turned around to avoid her head being sliced off by the girl, just as Ed made a swipe for her legs; now she was facing Clare, but had also taken out two silver daggers. Clare began to run backwards as Ed tried to take Jadis by surprise.

"Clare! Run!" He shouted as the Witch turned around to face him instead. Clare took off running, but fell on her face when she felt a searing pain in her legs. She looked back over her shoulder to see the Witch pinning Edmund down with her foot, and holding only one dagger. She looked down at her leg to see another long gash on her leg, and also a silver dagger laying on the grass beside her. She picked it up and tried to stand.

The Witch had the other dagger dangerously close to Ed's neck, and Clare moved forward as fast as she could. With the weapon still in hand, she raised it up in front of her, took aim, and threw it as hard as she could towards Jadis.

She turned around just in time to see a dagger enter her right arm. She let out a cry of pain, dropped the one she was holding, and tried to pull it out.

Edmund could now escape. He grabbed the fallen dagger and scraped it along the leg that was restraining him; not a big wound, just one so that she would remove her foot.

He reached for his sword, and with the Witch still trying to pull her out of her arm, he thrust the metal through her.

She gasped, clutching her chest in pain, and then collapsed on the ground. The battle around them stopped so suddenly, it was like it never happened.

Ed looked up at Clare who was clutching her stomach, and moved her hands slightly. That revealed her shirt being soaked in blood. She also fell, and Edmund ran to her.

"Clare!" He held her up, trying to make her feel comfortable.

She couldn't say anything; she was too weak and the pain was too great. All she could do was try to breathe.

"PETER!" Ed shouted for his brother.

Peter looked over to where he heard his name, and saw Edmund holding a dying Clare. His eyes went wide and he started sprinting over to them.

"SUSAN! GET LUCY!" He shouted to his sister, who ran as fast as she could towards the tents.

As he approached, he heard Clare trying to take in air, but it was hard for her. Susan came running up with Lucy shortly behind, her healing juice in hand.

Clare saw this, and shook her head slightly. She pushed the bottle away when Lucy tried to give some to her, and motioned to all of the other wounded or dying soldiers.

"Clare, this might be able to save you; we have to try." Edmund told her softly.

Again, she shook her head, and tried to speak, but the only thing that came out were words that were very quiet.

Ed put his ear down close to her mouth, and listened. His face changed expressions while he listened.

He pulled his head back up when she was done, and relayed the message to his siblings.

"Clare says that Lucy should take the juice and go around and heal the wounded. She doesn't want to take any because if she was meant to die, then this wouldn't help her."

Susan, Peter, and Lucy looked down at their friend with wet eyes.

"Clare," Peter got down on his knees and held her, "I love you; I have for a long time, I just wanted you to know."

He leaned down and gave her one last kiss. She tried to smile, before her eyes closed, and her breathing stopped.

Lucy hid her face in her sister's dress and cried; Edmund buried his hands in his face, and Peter just let the tears fall freely. Everyone should see his sadness, and he wasn't going to hide it.

He was going to ask her to marry him, before they found out about the war, but things have changed now. Peter didn't know how he was going to be happy anymore. He knew this was going to happen, but he thought maybe he could prevent it or try to stop it.

Clare was dead, and there was nothing they could do to bring her back.


	13. Chapter 12, actually

Chapter 12, actually

Peter carried Clare's body away from the battle scene all the way back to Cair Paravel. He had laid her down on her bed, and sat beside her quietly with his head down.

A few days later, Edmund walked in quietly as to not disturb his grieving brother, but the silence was broken when he asked a question.

"Hey Pete? I never saw the Calormen army come and help us. Did they?"

Peter only nodded his head very slightly. He hadn't eaten in three days, since before the battle; he hadn't been out of Clare's room either. He slept in there, and spent all of his days in there. If anybody wanted to see him, they'd have to go to her room. His siblings feared that if he didn't come out soon, he might start experiencing mental problems.

Ed sighed. He didn't know how long his brother was going to stay in here. They would have to move Clare's body eventually, and they had already prepared a special site for her grave in the gardens.

"Peter, we are going to have to move her sometime; it's best to ask quickly as possible, so that her body is in good shape." Ed told him as he leaned against a dresser.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked quietly. His voice was hoarse and wavering. "She wants to stay here and sleep, for she is very tired; Clare needs her rest."

Ed sighed again as he realized the state his brother was in. He was going mad because the woman he loved was gone, and Edmund knew that he could never recover.

"Peter," Ed started, "a few days before all this happened, I went up to Clare's room to check on her, and she was crying, because she told me she had been thinking about what it would've been like if she had lived through this. She told me that she wouldn't regret coming to Narnia, because this had grown to be a place she loved, with people she loved in it, and she was willing to die to protect it. She also said she would never regret bumping into you on the train, when we were going to the professor's."

Peter looked up at Clare's body, and began to weep. He knew that he would never be able to love again, even though she wanted him to. He just wished that there was a way to bring her back.

**PARAGRAPH**

Down in the courtyard, Susan and Lucy were sitting on a bench over by the fountain. Lucy was running her hand across the water absentmindedly, while Susan sat looking straight forward, not moving at all. After Peter, the girls took Clare's death the hardest, because she was like a sister to them. Don't get me wrong, Edmund loved her just as much as they did, but he thought that Clare would still want them to function normally.

As they sat there, they heard loud, heavy footsteps coming into the courtyard. Lucy turned around to see.

"Aslan!" She shouted gleefully, but after a few seconds, she started crying.

"What is the matter, dear one?" He walked over to her, and she buried her face in his mane.

"Oh Aslan, don't you know?" She sobbed into his mane. "Clare has died! When Edmund killed the White Witch, Clare died too. They were connected!"

Aslan, of course, knew this, but wanted it to play out the way he had planned. "Where is she, my child?"

"Peter's with her now, up in her old room. I believe Ed is there too."

"Will you take me to her?"

Lucy nodded as she pulled back from the lion, dried her face, and took her sister and Aslan to Clare's room.

As they walked in, Edmund looked to see who it was, but Peter made no movement. Ed had a tired and helpless look on his face, but bowed low all the same.

"King Peter," Aslan spoke softly, "I see that you have had a great misfortune in your life."

Peter stated in a weak voice, "Forgive me, Aslan, if I do not bow, but it seems I cannot, for my body is stiff and unmoving."

Aslan ignored this. "I must ask you to do something for me, my son. I will need you and your siblings to leave this room for a few moments."

Peter still did not look at him. "I cannot. I cannot leave my love. I must stay here and watch her, incase she needs me."

"Just because you sit here by her side day and night will not bring her back, my son." Aslan said, very patiently. "I must do something of importance, but I must do it privately. Please, if you would leave, I will let you come back in when I am through."

Susan and Edmund walked over to their brother, stood him up, and walked out of the room, the formers clutching his arms so he didn't fall over.

When they had shut the door, Aslan walked up to Clare, and spoke some words in her ear. He took his head away from her hear and put his face in front of hers. He breathed on her face gently, and walked towards the door.

"You may go in now." He said to the four children waiting eagerly for him to come out.

Peter rushed back inside with his siblings on his heels, until he froze in his tracks at what he saw.

Clare.

Breathing.

Clare was lying on the bed, breathing. Lucy carefully walked over to her and touched her hand.

"Clare?" She asked softly. "It's Lucy. Are you awake?"

"Yes."

Clare opened her eyes to find the youngest Pevensie's face hovering above hers. She smiled a bit and tried to sit up, which Lucy helped her with.

Susan walked quickly over to Clare and gave her a tight, sisterly hug, with Edmund right behind her.

"I hope you all haven't been sitting around doing nothing because of me," she said as she embraced Ed.

The three siblings turned to their eldest brother, who was still in the same spot.

"Aren't you going to say 'hello' to me, Peter?" Clare asked with the corners of her mouth turned up a bit.

The boy cautiously walked over to her, as if she was not real, and touched her hand. He smiled after about three seconds and gave her a large hug, and then gave her many kisses on the cheeks.

"I've missed you!" He said in between them, "I'm so glad Aslan has let you come back to us!"

"Me too. There was so much I wanted to do here, but if Aslan really wanted to let me did for the good of Narnia, then I would have without complaint." She said as they hugged again.

"Are you hungry?" Asked Susan with concern, "I bet you're famished. Let me ask one of the dryads to fetch you something." She smiled and walked out the door.

"Please, tell me what happened." Clare asked as she laid back down against the pillows, for she was very weak.

Peter, Ed, and Lucy explained to her about the rest of the war, the Calormenean army coming to help, and about the following days.

"So they did come to help?" Clare asked, and Peter nodded.

Just then, Susan came back in the room followed by two dryads carrying trays of different foods.

"Susan! You didn't have to! I couldn't eat all of this by myself..." She trailed off as the trays were set in front of her.

"Don't worry Clare, I'll help you with that." Ed said as he reached to get a piece of toast and jam.

"Ed!" Susan scolded. "That is for Clare! When you've been dead for a few days, see how hungry _you_ are!"

"Well, I've touched it now."

"Really, Susan," Clare said to the eldest queen, "it's fine. I'm not going to eat this much anyways."

"Well, you're not going to get any if Ed keeps taking it."

Edmund shrugged as he put the toast in his mouth. "That's why we have a kitchen, Su."

His sister gave him a disapproving look, and turned back to Clare.

"Clare, what do you want to do today?" Lucy asked with enthusiasm.

"Now, Lucy," Peter reminded his sister, "Clare just woke up, and she's probably exhausted. We should let her get her rest."

"On the contrary," Clare spoke up, "I'm fully rested and have a lot of energy."

"Great! Let's go somewhere besides this stuffy room." Ed said as he grabbed two more pieces of toast, at which Susan shot him a glare.

"Oh, I suppose it is." Clare said as she got up to go open her balcony door. "No one has aired it out, have they?"

She walked out onto the patio and took in a deep breath of the almost-salty air coming from the sea.

"I've missed this." She said quietly.

As Clare turned to walk back inside, she saw mostly all of her fruit gone from her tray, and a fuming Susan.

"ED! What have I told you about the food?!" She yelled at the boy.

"Well, Clare wasn't eating any, and I thought, 'I shouldn't let this good food go to waste-'"

"Maybe, she wasn't eating any because you are!" Susan's hands were clenched.

"Please, sister, calm down. " Lucy said, gently.

Susan unclenched her hands, sank to the floor, and began to cry. Lucy walked to her and tried to comfort her, as did Clare.

"I don't mean to be so ornery, it's just, I think my adrenaline is moving very fast since Clare woke up; it's just so exciting." Said the weeping queen.

"Let's go down to the gardens, and take a walk, shall we?" Peter asked, clasping his hands together. "That ought to clear everybody's heads."

The four nodded, and after the girls helped Susan up, walked downstairs and outside.

They took a walk in the orchard, and with the fruit trees in bloom, it was beautiful. Peter and Clare walked in front of the group, arm in arm. Edmund was in the middle, looking from side to side at the fruit trees, and Lucy and Susan brought up the rear, talking about things that I don't know.

Peter reached up to a pear branch and pulled one down for Clare, as Edmund climbed up a very tall apple tree.

"Edmund, be careful! You don't want to fall and hurt yourself!" Lucy called to him.

"Don't worry, sister, I'll be perfectly fine." He said as he kept climbing higher and higher. As he reached for another branch, his foot slipped and he fell.

Out of a forty-foot tall tree.

Ouch.

"EDMUND!" The other four shouted as they ran to him.

He lay motionless on the ground, because he had been knocked unconscious. His sisters stood above him, while Peter knelt down beside him, picked him up, and started to head back inside. The three girls trailed along behind him, helping by opening doors and such.

The party went up to Ed's room and laid him on his bed. Peter took his boots off and started giving instructions to his sisters and Clare.

"Susan, go and get me some water and cloth; Lucy, you go get your healing cordial. Clare, get some bandages." The girls scattered to do as he told them, and came back as quick as a flash.

Peter fixed Edmund up very well; he took the pitcher and basin from Susan, poured the water, soaked some cloth in it, and put the cloth on Ed's forehead. Next, he took the bandages and wrapped them around any cuts his brother had gained. Then, he poured a drop of Lucy's fire-flower juice in his mouth, which healed any broken bones.

"There," said Peter when he was finished, "that should do it."

"Where did you learn how to heal someone?" Clare asked him with curiosity.

"Well, when my siblings and I were younger, we used to play out in our backyard, and Edmund would run around a lot. One day, after it had rained, everything was wet and slippery, and he ignored Susan's and my attempts to tell him to be careful. He slipped, fell onto his back, broke his wrist, and had some nasty cuts and bruises on his back. I took him inside to our mum, and she and I took care of him." He explained.

"Oh."

"And after that," Edmund joined in, for he had now woken up, "Peter wouldn't let it go for months."

The four standing people smiled down at him.

* * *

** Eh. Not my best chapter, I'll admit, but I've been working on chapters that will come later, and I ****_promise_**** with all my heart that they're good. Promise. I won't tell you what's going to happen, unless you want to know, then I guess you can PM me and I'll give you a little insight.**

**Other than that, please review!**

**-B**


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A few days after Edmund's accident, everyone was back to doing what they usually do. Lucy could be found in the library, Edmund, in the stable, getting the horses ready to go for a ride to visit villages around Cair Paravel; Susan, in her room, writing to a possible suitor in Archenland, and Peter and Clare in the courtyard, relaxing until Peter and Ed had to go.

"Peter," Clare spoke as she sat on the edge of the fountain, watching the fish, "what happened to Aslan? Where'd he go?"

Peter opened his eyes from the light nap he was taking. "I'm not sure; he will be back soon, though. I know it."

Clare nodded and turned back to the fountain. "Peter?" She asked again, this time more curiously. "Don't you think that it's Edmund's time to start courting? I mean, he is almost seventeen. Susan would have been starting in a few months, but she might have found someone already. If Lucy hasn't started before she's seventeen, then we will have to present her to the other countries as well as Narnia, but right now, Edmund is our main priority."

Peter looked at Clare. "Maybe. I'm not sure how well he will take to that; he's kind of shy about that sort of thing."

"Yes, but once he gets to know someone, he can be very open. Besides, he wasn't shy around me."

Peter shrugged and closed his eyes again. Clare sighed and turned back to the fountain. About a half an hour later, Edmund walked in and announced that he and Peter had to leave. Susan had come down from her room after she had finished her letter and joined them outside.

"I don't see why we can't go; we've gone every other time." She complained to her brothers.

"I've told you, Su, you can't today; it's strictly men's business." Ed told her as he tightened a strap on his saddle.

"Men's business my a-"

"Susan!" Peter scolded, "No need for such language! I promise, you all can come on the next trip, but today, it's essential that just Ed and I go."

Susan rolled her eyes as Clare walked up to Peter to say goodbye.

"How long will you be gone?"

"A few hours, at the most, wouldn't you say, Ed?" Peter turned to him.

The latter had been looking at a cloud in the sky when Peter spoke to him. "Hmm? Oh, yes, a few hours."

Peter pursed his lips, and turned back to Clare. "We won't be back until after dinner, so you can eat without us."

"Where will you eat?" Susan asked.

"We have some bread and fruit in our saddle bags; we will be fine." Ed told her.

"We must be off. I don't want it to be too dark when we return." Peter said as he looked at the sky.

The four waved to each other as the boys rode off, and the girls went in to the library to find Lucy.

**PARAGRAPH **

"Ed, Clare and I were talking earlier today, and we think that it's time that you start looking for a girlfriend." Peter told his brother as they rode.

"Why? Its not like I need one." Ed looked at him with furrowed brows.

"It's traditional for a king of Narnia to have a wife, Ed."

"Well maybe I don't want to be king then. I'm happy by myself. Besides, it's not like I'm alone; I have Susan, Lucy, you, and Clare. And anyway, if _you_ don't even have a wife yet, why do I have to?"

Peter ignored the question. "Just promise me that if you ever come across someone that you may fancy, to give her a chance."

"I promise."

They continued riding until they got to a village. It had many different creatures, like dwarves, fauns, centaurs, and animals.

The boys stopped at a dwarf's workshop, because Peter needed to ask a favor.

"Good afternoon, Rufskine, how are you?" Peter asked him.

"I'm fine, your majesties, and how might you be?"

"Just fine, thank you. I had a favor to ask of you: would you be able to make me a ring?"

"Of course, your majesty; how would you like it to look?"

"Oh, I'll sketch you a picture." Peter took a piece of parchment and a quill, "I would like the band to be silver, with diamonds from halfway up the sides to the middle, then, I want an aquamarine in the middle, with diamonds around that. Like this." Peter showed him the finished sketch.

"It's beautiful, your majesty; who is it for?"

"It's for Clare. I'm going to ask her to marry me." Peter looked at Edmund who had a grin on his face, and Peter grinned back.

"You didn't tell me about this! Did you just expect to hide it from me forever? I'm your brother!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise, and it looks like I succeeded."

The three of them finished making preparations for the ring to be made, and the two kings were on their way. Peter had told Rufskine he would need the ring to be at Cair Paravel by next Tuesday, his nineteenth birthday. He planned to propose to Clare at the party, in the gardens, because that was her favorite place in all of Cair Paravel.

"So Peter, how many children are you going to have?" Ed smirked on his horse.

"Ed, I don't even know of she'll accept and your thinking about kids? I think you'll be more anxious than she and I will."

"Oh Peter, don't be silly; of course she'll accept. Why wouldn't she? And I'm sure she'll be asking the same sort of questions as soon as you propose."

Peter smiled lightly as they continued riding back to Cair Paravel. They both were exhausted when they returned, and saw Lucy waiting in the courtyard for them.

"I could hear the horses' hooves from a while away; how fast were you riding? Anyway, what did you do? How was your visit-"

"Calm down Lu, you're talking too fast; one question at a time please." Ed told his little sister.

Lucy blushed slightly and led them in to the main room where the other two girls were sitting.

"Ah, hello boys, how was your excursion?" Clare asked. "I hope you accomplished whatever it was that you needed to do."

Edmund looked at Peter knowingly, but Peter tried to hide it so no one would get suspicious.

"Yes, it was very successful." The former replied

Susan never misses anything, and she saw the look that her two brothers shared, and pulled Ed aside.

"What did you two do in the village? Peter is acting strange. Is there a secret somewhere in all of this?"

Ed looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "Yes. Peter wanted to go to the village to have something made at one of the dwarves' shops; a ring. He wanted an engagement ring made for Clare." He stopped when he saw Susan's eyes widen with excitement and her face start to glow. "Now Susan, remember, this is Peter's affair, not yours, so stay out of it. He plans to propose the night of his birthday celebration."

"I'm overjoyed! I need to excuse myself so that Peter doesn't ask me why I'm so riant."

Ed nodded and Susan walked out of the room. The former sat down beside Clare, Peter, and Lucy and talked about their trip, and random things afterwards.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

When the night of Peter's birthday rolled around, all of the servants, Pevensies, and Clare were literally running about the castle, placing flower pots here, putting other decorations there.

"Peter!" Susan called up to her brother from her place in the Entrance Hall. "Will you come down and help me move this table? I need to arrange the decorations on it right away; after all, this is the first thing the guests will see when they enter."

Peter came to the top of the stairs, "I'll be right there sister!" He hurried down, for he did not want to be on the bad side of Susan. He knew all to well what that was like. "What was it that you wanted me to move?"

"This table over to the corner there." Susan pointed to the far corner.

"All the way over there?" Peter's mouth was open. "You've got to be joking."

"Oh, but I'm not, dear brother. You're the only one who's not doing anything of importance right now, so therefore you have to move it."

"Fine." Peter grumbled as he walked over to the table, struggling to pick it up, finally decided to drag it across the floor. He dusted his hands off when he was done, and he smiled in satisfactory.

"Peter! You could have scratched the floor!" Susan exclaimed. "What were you thinking?"

"I moved it didn't I?" He raised an eyebrow. "And I didn't scratch it, so no harm done Susan."

Edmund had walked in to see what was the matter with Susan now, for he had hear her scold Peter. "What have you done now Peter?"

"I merely moved this table like Susan wanted me to; I don't see why she's so upset."

"You dragged it across the floor! You're lucky it didn't scratch, Peter Pevensie, or you would have me to answer to." Susan glared at him.

Peter put his hands up and walked to the throne room, which was frantically being decorated for the party. Edmund followed behind.

"Are you ready for tonight? I would be nervous if I were you."

"Thanks Ed." Peter replied sarcastically.

"All I mean is, don't get cold feet at the last second. You'll regret it if you don't, and you will be a whole lot happier after you propose."

"Don't worry; I've been thinking about this for a long while. I don't think I'll go back."

**PARAGRAPH**

The night of Peter's party came, and I don't know how to describe it. It was possibly the best party that I have seen, with dancing, beautiful music, people laughing and talking gaily, food from many different countries, and of course, many guests.

Susan's suitor from Archenland had been invited (much to her liking) and she was dancing with him now. Edmund had also found someone to dance with, another Archenlander (it seems to me that Archenland has many good people; Narnia has always had a good relationship with them). Lucy was talking to a wood nymph by the drink table, for she was keen on standing there (don't ask me why).

Clare had been asked to dance by many men, and by this time her feet were very sore, but she kept on dancing, because this was Peter's party, and she wanted to have a good time. Peter had too been asked to dance several times; he had tried to ask Clare to dance, but he had always been whisked away by some other female wanting to dance with the young king. Clare had told Susan that she needed a break, but would come back shortly. She heads up to her room for a while.

Mary was there, being put on the guest list without the king's knowledge, and she had been dancing with Peter for the last three songs. Peter, of course, was getting very tired of dancing, especially with Mary, and had to make an excuse to try and get away.

"What's the matter Pete? Don't want to dance with me anymore?" Mary batted her eyes.

"Don't call me that, and I'm ever so tired Mary; we've danced to the past three songs. I think it's time for a rest, don't you?"

"You just want to go see that Miller girl." She scowled. "What a pathetic excuse for a human."

Peter backed away from her. "Don't you dare say that. She's more human than you! She's brilliant."

"Why Peter! Are you saying that you actually care for her? I thought that you were just saying that to get rid of me, but I can see now that it's true. You'd still be better off with me; I can give you more than she could."

"And what is it you could give me?" Peter's face was red with rage.

The woman leaned in to Peter's ear, "Anything you want." Then, she kissed him full on the mouth. Peter yanked Mary away from him, and if he wasn't such a gentleman, and if she was not a woman, he would have punched her.

Edmund had stopped talking to the girl from Archenland a while ago, and was watching this conversation go down. He saw Mary kiss his brother, and his eyes widened as he furiously walked over to the two.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He bellowed. "What are you even doing here, woman? Who invited you?"

Not saying a word, smugly smiled and stalked out of the Ballroom, and out the door.

Edmund then turned to his brother, who looked horrified. "You're lucky Clare's not here."

"Where is she? Did she see anything?"

"No, she's been upstairs for the past half an hour; you really are lucky, except for the part where Mary kissed you."

Peter's face was as white as a sheet, and he walked over to his throne. He sat down and put his face in his hands. "How many people saw?"

Ed thought about it for a minute. "Maybe...ten? I don't know; I wasn't really paying attention to who was looking. I was more focused on Mary."

Peter nodded and stood up. "May I have your attention, please!" He shouted to the hall. "If anyone saw anything regarding Lady Mary and I in the past few minutes, I do not want a word spoken about it. Is that clear?" There were nods throughout the Ballroom. "Good. Continue with your dancing."

Peter sat back down in his throne, and Ed leaned against it. "You know, you should go and talk to Clare. Maybe this would be a good time to propose; end the night on a happy note." He told Peter.

"You're right. I'm going to right now." He stood up with a determined look on his face. "Wish me luck."

* * *

**Sorry it's so short, I just kind of wanted to make it dramatic, you know? I'll be working on Chapter 15 right now, so it should be up in a while. Let me know what you think!**

**-B**


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